The sacrifice of forgiveness

3rd Week of Lent: Readings

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

SS. Domenico e Sisto, Roma

The young woman sitting in my office was recounting to me all the times she had been physically and sexually abused by her father. Before his death, he had been a heavy drinker and drug-addict. He had never married this woman's mother and only showed his face at home when he needed money. Before ransacking the house looking for goods to sell, he would beat the girl and her mother, and more often than not, rape one or the other or both. Without fail, he would return later in the week, crying, begging for forgiveness and promising to never hurt either of them again. He never kept this promise. He died of an overdose while serving a prison sentence for drug possession. The young woman was in my office, telling me this horror story because she wanted me to tell her how to forgive him. I had no idea what to say, so I asked instead, “Why do you want to forgive him?” She said, “Because he is my father, and I love him.” Better than I could then and even now, she understood the power of sacrificial love to push the wounded soul to forgiveness.

Azariah finds himself in a very different predicament. From the flames of the furnace, he promises to honor his God on the altar of his contrite heart. He has no first fruits, no incense, no bull to offer; no priest for the sacrifice. He has nothing to give but his life, so he prays: “. . .let our sacrifice be in your presence today. . .for those who trust in you cannot be put to shame. . .Deliver us by your wonders, and bring glory to your name, O Lord.” Facing an agonizing death, Azariah's love for God does not falter on the off-chance that his ruler will spare him if he only recants his faith. Rather than cry out for vengeance against his murderer, Azariah cries out to God for rescue, offering the one victim that makes every sacrifice of the altar holy: the undivided, wholly surrendered, and contrite heart of the lover. “Let us be received,” he prays, “as though we were burnt offerings.” 

The young woman said that she wanted to forgive her father because she loved him. I asked her, “Is your love for him now forgiveness enough?” She said, “No. If I forgive him, then everything he did was O.K. It's like saying he did nothing wrong.” I didn't know how to explain to her that she could forgive him without condoning his crimes, that she could sacrifice her pain without celebrating his sin. How could I tell her that her desire to forgive him was also a desire to be forgiven her hatred of him and what he had done? Jesus tells us that if we want to be forgiven, then we must forgive. He says that we will be forgiven our sins in exactly the same way that we forgive those who have sinned against us. The sacrifice we must make is to release the grip we have on the sins committed against us. Held too closely and too tightly, these sins will turn rancid and poison us. 

Azariah doesn't pray for vengeance. He prays for rescue and offers his humbled spirit in sacrifice. The young woman in my office loves her father but cannot sacrifice the wounds he has inflicted on her. Azariah doesn't burn in the furnace because he holds nothing against his persecutors. There is nothing in him that is not already burned away. The young woman desires to forgive, but she still clings to her father's sins and there is much left to burn. 

Jesus teaches us the truth: we cannot forgive if we do not sacrifice; we cannot be forgiven if we ourselves will not forgive.

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O.P. sisters in Mosul, Iraq

Sr Donna Markham, O.P., the Prioress of the Adrian Dominicans, reports on the terrible situation of our Dominican Sisters in Iraq and the entire Christian community in Mosul:

Dear Sisters, This evening I have received very tragic news about the situation in Iraq. I have just returned from being with the 5 Iraqi sisters who are with us in Adrian. Today, all the Christians have fled from Mosul.

There have been murders and rapes of Christians there and for now they are fleeing to the Christian villages. Sister Maria is very frightened about the safety of the sisters and the Christian people. As of now, the five elderly sisters who have been holding down the Motherhouse are choosing to remain there because they do not want to lose their Motherhouse to the terrorists. She said most Christians are making plans to evacuate from Iraq and, as a consequence, she does not know what will happen with her Congregation. She said they will follow the Christian people where they go, but where that will be is uncertain. The sisters' families remain in grave danger and, as you can imagine, the young ones with us and with Springfield are terrified. As of now, nothing is being reported in the US press. She asks if any of us know people in Washington whom we could contact and tell the story, to please do so. Most importantly, she asks for our prayers. 

Love, Sr. Donna

*forwarded to the friars by Fr. Brian Mulcahy, OP, Socius of the Eastern Dominican Province.

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Back

We're back up and running. . .

Late Saturday evening, the proxy server that connects the priory network to the Vatican's main server went down.

The only friar in the house who has access to the proxy was out of town. . .so, we went two days without internet access.  A Perfect Example of the inefficiency of religious life in Italy!

Oh well, off to do French homework. . .



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New seminar at U.D.

Great news!

Instead of teaching Western Theological Tradition at U.D. this summer, I will be teaching a seminar on Religion & Science.  It will be cross-listed as an undergrad and grad evening class.

Sharpen those pencils, kiddies!

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

Can climate science restore its rep after the Global Warming Hoax?  I hope so.

Satanic sects working in the Vatican?  Of course, there are.  Satan isn't stupid; he goes where the work is. 

Catholic campus ministries are the key to reforming the Church in the U.S.  Long a stronghold of dissidents, liturgical flakes, and misfit ministers, campus ministry is slowly becoming The Place for building a solid foundation for orthodox Church reform.

On the dangers of instant communication via Facebook and Twitter:  a false rumor that John Roberts is resigning from the Supreme Court.  Wireless internet connections and laptops in class pose a pedagogical dilemma for profs.  The easy availability of texts on-line vs. the temptation to conduct private conservations.  I hate to tell students not to use their laptops in class, but they can't seem to resist being distracted by them.

Interesting bit of rhetorical "Duh-ism" from the leftist Dutch media.  A right-wing political party that polls second place is labeled "a fringe party."  That tells you who's really on the fringe.

Wow. . .someone give this guy a drink before he explodes!

12 Biggest Rip-offs in America.  All-you-can-eat buffets are included in the list.  Obviously, they've never gone to a buffet with me and my friends!

Stumped for the right thing to say in an award moment?  Confronted with the need for a trite saying that doesn't commit you to taking action?  Use the Cliche Finder!

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Sabers UP!

Think of the deepest place in the Ole Confederacy and you think of the Magnolia State!  Mississippi is also known for being the poorest, least educated, fattest, and most religious state in the Union. 

Despite these less than congratulatory superlatives, Mississippi has also managed in her poverty, obesity, and ignorance to produce Wm. Faulkner, B.B. King, Elvis Presley, Oprah Winfrey, Tennessee Williams, Eudora Welty, Jimmy Buffet, Richard Ford, Muddy Waters, Richard Wright and a whole bushel basket of other extraordinary people. 

One of these extraordinary people died recently--novelist, short story writer, and teacher, Barry Hannah. 

OXFORD, Miss. – An inspiration and mentor to a generation of young American writers, acclaimed Mississippi author Barry Hannah, 67, died Monday at his home. He was the writer-in-residence at the University of Mississippi and director of its Master of Fine Arts in creative writing program.

Barry Hannah accepts his award as a Distinguished Faculty Fellow from the College of Liberal Arts in 2002. UM photo by Robert Jordan.

Hannah won numerous awards and international recognition. He was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in fiction for his short story collection "High Lonesome" (1996). His first published novel, "Geronimo Rex" (1972), won the William Faulkner Prize for writing and earned him a nomination for the National Book Award. 

In 1987, I took a graduate creative writing class with Barry.  It was--to say the least--an eye-opening experience. 

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Coffee Bowl Browsing (Smiley Edition)

Muslim preacher finds Christ in the Orthodox Church!  (H/T: Mark Shea)

Pride and Prejudice:  Emoticon Edition.

Pope Benedict XVI will consecrate Barcelona's Sagrada Familia Cathedral.  I visited this architectural marvel in the summer of 2006.  Unfortunately, the stairs leading to the higher reaches of the church were designed and built for really skinny hobbits.  Needless to say, I stayed downstairs.

Better than Prozac, better than therapy, better than ice cream:  Laughing Baby!

For all you chemist-geeks out there:  the Human Ingredient Tee-Shirt.

Drumming up business with rocks and paint.  Unethical but funny.

For men only:  Female to Male translation.

Be really, really sure that you've heard. . .really sure.

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More on Mary, Co-redemptrix

NB.  The mention of the conference on the proposed Fifth Marian Dogma generated some emails.  I thought I'd repost this piece from a year ago:

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In his amazingly clear explication in the role of the Blessed Virgin's compassion and sorrow in salvation history, The Foot of the Cross Or, The Sorrows of Mary, English theologian, Fr. Frederick W. Faber, argues for the use of the title, "Co-Redemptress" when referring to Mary's contribution to Christ's unique sacrifice for our sins. He argues that the title must be understood in the context of the following five theological facts:

1) Our Blessed Lord is the sole Redeemer of the world in the true and proper sense of the word and in this sense no creature whatsoever shares the honour with Him neither can it be said of Him without impiety that He is co redeemer with Mary

2) In a secondary dependent sense and by participation all the elect co-operate with our Lord in the redemption of the world

3) In the same sense but in a degree to which no others approach our Blessed Lady co-operated with Him in the redemption of the world

4) Besides this and independent of her dolours she co-operated in it in a sense and after a manner in which no other creatures did or could

5) Furthermore by her dolours she co-operated in the redemption of the world in a separate and peculiar way separate and peculiar not only as regards the co-operation of the elect but also as regards her own other co-operation independently of the dolours.

Could not be clearer or more precise.

BTW, this book was written in the late 1840's and published in 1858. And Fr. Faber was an Anglican priest before converting to the Church under Cardinal Newman's tutelage. He was also a founding member of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in London, the famous "Bromption Oratory."

Also, check out this post for further information and links:  Mary, Co-redemptrix?

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Scam, scam, go away!

Walking to and from French class this afternoon, I was accosted by no fewer than four scam artists.

Beggars are a common sight in Rome, but they tend to stay close to churches and busy shopping areas.  

The scam artists are much bolder and much, much more creative.  My guess is that the big American in his full Dominican habit is just too tempting a target to ignore.  I tried "No parlato Italiano," but they just switch to broken English and continue the scam. 

Today's most creative:  the decently dressed old lady parked in front of an ATM who flashes an obviously fake bank card and tries to convince you that the ATM is broken.  She just needs four euro!  Her scam falls apart when a young man walks up to the machine and gets his cash.  Oops.

Ugh.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

That "grassroots" liberal-latte Coffee Party is anything but grassroots. . .how did the NYT miss such the connection?  Or rather, why didn't they report the connection?  

Atheists will trade you a Bible for p0rn!  No wonder their nihilistic ideology is so incredibility popular worldwide.

Archbishop Wuerl of D.C. says that the archdiocese "will be in compliance" with new laws requiring organizations that receive city funds to provide benefits to their employees in SSM.  This decision deserves very close scrutiny.

Update:  the D.C. archdiocese will comply with the new SSM laws by not offering spousal benefits to  new employees.  Ahhhhh, the good fruits of imposed equality.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts denies a petition to stay the enactment of the D.C. SSM law.  His reasoning is based on his philosophy of judicial restraint not on the merits of the law.

Ole Miss to replace Colonel Reb mascot with Admiral Ackbar?  I was a freshman at Ole Miss in 1982 when a black cheerleader refused to use the Confederate flag at football games.  The campus was in racial turmoil the whole academic year.

Fr. Z. puts the smackdown on the silly (and illicit) practice of replacing Holy Water with sand during Lent.  If your pastor is allowing this, print off the notice from the Vatican and send it to him.  Consider it a penance.

Conference in Rome on the fifth Marian dogma:  Mary, co-Redemptrix.  If this idea were declared dogma by BXVI as it is stated in the supporting material, I see no theological problems with it.  The dogma would state what the Church has always taught:  Mary, in her assent to being the Mother of God and her suffering at the cross, cooperated in our redemption.  To the degree that each of us follows Christ to the cross, we too are "co-redeemers" in our salvation.  The title "co-Redemptrix" in no way indicates that Mary is a redeemer equal to Christ. 

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Avoiding status drama

2nd Week of Lent: Readings

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

SS. Domenico e Sisto, Roma

One of the favorite hobbies of the western media is a game called “Gotcha!” When a politician or church leader or some other public figure gives an interview or press conference, the media folks herd around and poke at this person in the hope that he or she will make a mistake by saying something stupid, or something insulting or petty. Perhaps the only version of the Gotcha game that the media love more is the one where a public figure is caught behaving in a way that contradicts his stated principles. A “family values” politician caught in an adulterous affair. A bishop caught stealing from the collection basket. This sort of hypocrisy sells newspapers and draws viewers. An audience loves to read about or watch a leader die on the dirtied sword of his ideals. Of course, public figures could avoid this media trap by consistently living up to their ideals, or by having no ideals at all. You can't be accused of hypocrisy if you hold nothing dear! Jesus warns his disciples about the dangers of exalting themselves as the Pharisees do. He says, “. . .do and observe all things whatsoever [the Pharisees] tell you, but do not follow their example. . .The greatest among you must be your servant.” 

In order to make clear what a servant in the Church looks like, Jesus describes the self-exalted religious leaders of his day. They weigh their people down with heavy burdens, yet refuse to help them carry the load. They perform good works in order to be seen not out of genuine charity. They don exaggerated religious garb; take places of honor at dinner parties, in the synagogues; and they crave adoration on the street. They allow themselves to be hailed as “Master,” placing themselves on the same level as our Father in heaven. All of these add up over time to be a shadow play, a kabuki mime—props, set pieces, scripts, choreography, all used by those who want to act the part of a righteous religious leader without actually having to be anything like a righteous religious leader. This is the road to damnation, spiritual destruction. Thus, Jesus warns the disciples to avoid playing at being humble and instead teaches them to find exaltation in being a servant.

Any seminarian, religious sister or brother, deacon, priest, or bishop will tell you that one of the most difficult temptations we face as public persons in the Church is the temptation of self-exaltation. We are charged with upholding the teachings of the Church on some of the most hotly debated issues of our day; we are vowed to do good works and we do them openly; we wear distinctive clothing and our people greet us on the streets by calling us “Sister,” “Father,” “Reverend,” even “Your Eminence.” It gets worse for those of us who teach in universities. We have “Doctor” and “Professor” added to our titles. You haven't been exalted properly until you hear yourself introduced at a party as “the Reverend Father Doctor”! Just imagine the temptations our poor Pope must endure when his titles are rattled off. Rightly or wrongly, our status is recognized and celebrated. And therein lies the danger for us and for those we serve—our status, the place we occupy, the public role we have taken on in the Church. Status is fleeting, temporary, easily lost and too easily mourned. Status is nothing.

Jesus clearly shows us the way out of this potential spiritual wreck. The Church needs leaders not actors, servants not masters. She needs living examples of holiness not self-exalted Barbie Dolls in religious drag. She needs saints, and, fortunately for us, most saints start out as sinners. The transition from sinner to saint, from religious actor to servant-leader is summed up nicely by Isaiah: “Hear the word of the Lord. . .Listen to the instruction of our God. . .! Wash yourselves clean!” And once cleansed by humility, we can start a life of true service. Quietly or loudly, openly or in secret, we can be slaves to a Church, a world in desperate need of being loved by those of us who lay claim to the love of Christ.

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Dyslexia to the rescue!

For once in my life, my dyslexia may help me learn a foreign language!

Of all the Romance languages, Italian has the most rational pronunciation rules:  each vowel is pronounced exactly the same way every time it occurs; all the syllables of a word are pronounced.

French, on the other hand, is dirty with weird inflections, elided syllables, dropped endings, silent letters, and accents on vowels frequently alter the meaning of a word.

Yesterday in class, I had little trouble pronouncing the French.  I am still stymied by Italian.

Go figure.

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Quick update. . .

Just got off the phone with Mama Becky.  She reports that her parents went to a nursing home this weekend.  Her father, Clyde, is 97 and suffering from a bad eye infection.  Her step-mother, Mildred, is 89.  

They have lived in the same house in the Mississippi Delta for 70 years! 

Please keep them, my mom, and her sisters in your prayers.

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My day. . .

Between 1.00 pm and 5.00 pm today, I. . .

. . .saw an Italian couple get hit by a taxi in front of the Wax Museum.

. . .took classes at the French Embassy.

. . .met a young Roman woman in my French class who had lived in Houston as an exchange student.

. . .visited the Church of St Louis of France and saw four beautiful Caravaggio paintings, including three world-renowned canvases of The Calling of St Matthew, The Inspiration of Saint Matthew, The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew.

What did you do today?  ;-)

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

Didn't we listen to eight years of the bleating Left telling us that Bush was "shredding the Constitution" with the Patriot Act?   I guess your definition of "shredding" depends on who sits in the Oval Office.

Hilarious:  demographics of American newspapers.  (NB.  the embedded Youtube vid is mildly R-rated.)

Challenging the "Ron Paul's seat" mentality of a TX Republican primary.  Apparently, Dems aren't the only ones infected with the politicus imperialis virus.

UK's Labour Party harboring Islamic radicals?  Why not?  European leftists seem pretty cozy with all sorts of delusional utopian ideologies.

More rhetorical slight-of-hand:  using "men" to mean Bad Males vs. using "people" to mean Good Males.  The definition of Good and Bad is, of course, political.  (NB.  I recently ordered, Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student.  Look for many more entries on the use and abuse of rhetoric!)

A meditation on suicide.  We need you!

While failing to understand (much less love) western civilization, Harvard's liberal arts faculty sneers at the critical study of religion.  One prof distinguishes between the phenomenon of religion and the use of reason as if reason cannot be used to study a phenomenon.  

Dismantling the latest Elitist Meme:  liberals and atheists are more intelligent than conservatives and theists.  As you might suspect, the proof (or lack thereof) in it the definitions.  Note especially the definition of "liberalism" that the researchers use.  Poll after poll indicate that self-described conservatives are far more charitable with their money than liberals.

Sunday's homily is on its way!

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Quick Updates

Mama Becky recently got out of the hospital. . .again, pneumonia.  She reports feeling better than ever.  Continued prayers much appreciated.

French classes start for yours truly Monday afternoon.  

I've been offered a summer class at U.D.  Second term:  "Western Theological Tradition."

Still waiting on a gallery copy of the second prayer book.  It's due out May 2010.

First Niece is doing very well with her Sylvan tutoring.  Much like her uncle did at her age, she's battling the demonic hordes of the fiend, Math.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

Scary:  "Presidential emergency powers" is a phrase we are used to hearing used by Third World junta thugs not from the U.S. Congress. 

56% say that the government is the biggest threat to American civil rights.  See above.

Zombies and the First Amendment!  Stumbling towards the Apocalypse.

A dangerous rhetorical shift:  "freedom of religion" vs. "freedom of worship."  Yes, it matters.  A great deal. 

A victory for free speech and free exercise in a public school.  Yes, it can still happen.

Judge calls priestly celibacy "cruel."  Of course, we all know that the real cruelty here is the idiocy of this judge. 

I'm sure that this clock is a metaphor for some important philosophical concept. . .just not sure which one.  Maybe the "fallacy of non-indexical allusion"?  Uh?

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Lenten Reflection 5: difficult questions

"I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust."

Loving your enemies in the abstract is easy.  How do you love them concretely?

What is the purpose of praying for those who persecute you?  

How exactly does loving your enemies and praying for your persecutors make you a child of God?

Why does the fact that the sun shines on the just and unjust make praying for the unjust necessary?

"For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers and sisters only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” 

What reward is there for us in returning love for love if sinners do the same?

In what way is Jesus calling us to be "unusual"?

How can we be perfect as the Father is perfect?  He is God; we are His creatures. 

Concretely, by what means is Jesus teaching us to be perfect as the Father is perfect?

What distracts us from this path?

In what way do you imitate the pagans/tax collectors rather than the Father?

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

Anti-Catholic bigot and movie-maker, Roland Emmerich, is being sued by the archdiocese of Rio de Janiero for using their iconic Jesus statue in his movie, 2012.   This is the coward who admitted that he didn't portray the destruction of any Muslim sites in his disaster movie b/c he feared violent retaliation.  Maybe if he loses this suit he'll think twice about his gutlessness.

Experiment in totalitarianism is FL school.  Not mentioned in the report is whether or not students on either side of the "wall" were allowed to practice their faith openly.

Report on religion blogs. . .alas, HancAquam didn't make the list.  Sigh.

The necessity of Vatican Two. . .well-balanced and insightful article. 

Reform of the reform?  NB.  The liturgical document from VC2, Sacrosanctum Concilium calls for a renewal not a reform of the liturgy.  The difference btw the two words and their use in context is significant.

For geeks everywhere:  why I don't have a girlfriend.

More Japanese weirdness.  These guys have very creative minds.

Ticket to Hell?  Well, a ticket to the Art World Doghouse at the very least.  While touring the museums of Greece last year, U.D. students were constantly reminded by the docents not to pose with the statues.  Apparently, such a thing is considered disrespectful.  Now I know why.

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What to do (and not do) about vocations

A four year old post on vocations to the priesthood. . .

I wanted to suggest the following about vocations:

1). There is no vocations crisis. God is calling more than enough men to the priesthood to cover the needs of the Church. The real crisis is twofold: a). crisis of commitment and b). crisis of encouragement. The crisis of commitment is the result of the reluctance of the men who are called to say YES to their call. Most men called to priesthood are opting for careers that will only partially perfect their gifts. They can be happy, of course, but they are not picking up the greater challenge of sacrificial service in the Church. The crisis of encouragement is more complex. Basically, mothers and fathers are not supporting sons who express an interest in say YES to God’s call. This has to do with a decline in the prestige of the priesthood and the easier availability of a formal education for lower and middle-class men. We also have to look to the bishops, their vocation directors, and their discernment and vetting processes. Do the people the bishop trusts to recruit and vet his vocations really believe that an ordained priesthood is necessary for the flourishing of the Church? Is there a culture of priestly community in the diocese? Are the priests happy and encouraging of vocations? Bottomline: no sensible young man with a vocation is remotely interested in signing on to a religious order or a diocese if it is clear that those in charge think his vocation to ordained ministry is an ideological problem, a theological inconvenience, or a political obstacle to the Great Lay Revolution. And no young man is remotely interested in joining an order or a diocese controlled by bitter, angry ideologues who loudly and proudly celebrate the coming demise of the priesthood. Who wants to jump on a failing project as it sinks under the weight of its stewards’ neglect?

2). If we have all the vocations we need, but those vocations aren’t saying YES, what do we need to do? First, give God constant thanks for the vocations He has called. Gratitude sets the stage for humility and the current crisis in commitment and encouragement needs all the humility it can get. Second, pray that God will encourage (literally, “strengthen the hearts of”) those whom He has called. Pray that they will say YES. Third, personally, one-on-one invite a young man to think about priesthood. If there’s any inkling in his mind that he has been called, your affirmation will reinforce that inkling into a stirring and the stirring into a desire and so on. Fourth, make sure that you understand who your priest is. I mean, study up on the nature of the priesthood. Get the Catechism and spend some time studying what the Church teaches about priesthood. Ignore functional models of priesthood (i.e., the priesthood is a job or a role) and ignore attempts to turn the Catholic priest into a Protestant minister (i.e., a minister of the Word in the pulpit but not a priest at the altar of sacrifice!). Also avoid all attempts to understand that priesthood is rooted in baptism only. We all minister to one another out of our baptisms. But the ordained priest ministers out of his baptism AND out of his ordination. To say that he ministers as a priest out of his baptism only is an attempt by some to diminish the sacramental character of Holy Orders and reduce the priesthood to something like a Parochial Facilitator of Charisms. One more thing to avoid: please don’t lump a vocation to the priesthood in with vocations to the married life, the single life, ad. nau. Of course, these vocations are perfectly true and good and beautiful. But we aren’t suffering as a Church from a lack of husbands and single women. Lumping priestly vocations in with all other Christian vocations tends to level the priestly vocation and hides the urgency of the crisises of commitment and encouragement. This is NOT about the priestly vocation being “better” than any other vocation. It is about the Church being loud and clear that we need priests and that we value the vocation for itself and not as a tacked-on afterthought during the prayers of the people.

Those called to priesthood will not be encouraged to say YES to their call until it is crystal clear to them that we need them. Communion Services and other forms of “celebrations in the absence of a priest” only serve to reinforce the idea that a priest for Mass is a luxury. Given all the other negatives about the priesthood these days, do we really need to carry on with our Sunday worship as if the priest were a rare creature slowly moving into extinction? I imagine a young man in the pews at St. Bubba’s, attending a month or two’s worth of Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest and thinking, “Hey, I don’t need to say YES to God’s call to priesthood. We’re getting along just fine here at St. Bubba’s w/o one.” In fact, why don’t we just elect one bishop somewhere in Kansas to consecrate several warehouses of hosts every week and then use FedEx to ship those hosts to all the parishes in the country for communion services. That way we can get rid of the priesthood and the episcopate altogether. Much cheaper and easier than educating men to be parish priests. Well, I guess we would have to keep one priest and one seminarian in the pipeline at all times as replacements.

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Lenten Reflection 4: asking and seeking

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find. . ."

No doubt Jesus intended this teaching to be comforting.  He is reassuring us that all we need, all we seek will be provided if we but ask.  However, the assumption of this teaching is that we know what we need, that we want what we seek after.  Is this true?  Do we know what we need?  Do we really want what we seek?  If we limit ourselves to asking for the daily basics (food, etc.), then there's not much to worry about here.  But what if we already have the basics and believe that we need more, or that we need something else?  How can we be sure that what we are asking for is really a need not just a want?  How can we be sure that what we seek is really worthy of having? 

The key to knowing what to ask for, what to seek after is this:  will what I ask for/seek after help me to serve God by serving His people?  Any gift we receive from the Father is given to us so that our service might be fruitful.  For example, in the Dominican Order, we study, pray, live in community, and follow the evangelical counsels for one reason only:  to be better preachers.  Study is never an end in itself, but simply a means to achieve the goal of preaching the gospel.  So, when you ask, when you seek, discern the purpose of what you ask for/seek after.  If that purpose is the glory of God and service to His Church, then ask, seek. . .you will receive and find.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

One of the most important ecumenical projects for this century will be the defense of religious freedom in the U.S. against the constant assaults of anti-religious bureaucrats.  

Oregon repeals ridiculous law forbidding public school teachers from wearing distinctive religious garb. 

Campus speech codes and the decay of language:  prosecuting the innocent to push an agenda.

If a doctor can bring himself to perform an abortion, should we surprised when we find out that he is a ghoul?   Evil twists wisdom to folly.

Zombies may be undead. . .but there's no good reason why they should be under-dressed.

As a staff member of a psych hospital, I frequently had to deal with patients who believed that they were Jesus.   I once asked a shrink if psych patients in Asia ever claimed to be the Buddha.  He was not amused.  This link is for him. 

Why are Israeli "art students" working so hard to sell their wares to DEA agents?  Weird.

There are many things that I will never caught dead doing.  This is in the top five.

U.S. hires the Borg to design and build a new $1 billion embassy in the U.K.  Apparently, when it comes to indulging the temptation to spend taxpayers money during a recession, B.O. says, "Resistance is futile."

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Why do we pray?

1st Week of Lent (T): Readings

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

SS. Domenico e Sisto, Roma

What if we decided this morning—just this once—to openly defy our Lord and pray as if we were pagans? We could probably manage to sound like pagans at prayer. We might even look like pagans at prayer. But we probably couldn't pull of thinking and believing like pagans while we prayed. It's one thing to imitate a pagan and quite another to become one. Before we could successfully paganize our prayer we would have to understand the theology, the mythos, the psychology, everything that goes into the make up of someone who lives and dies, prays and sacrifices in opposition to the precepts of the Lord. But it's not enough to simply reject Christ's teaching and the guidance of the Church. Being a pagan is more complex and much more subtle than living as a non-Christian or as an anti-Christian. In teaching his disciples how to pray, Jesus gives us a glimpse into one of the differences between the pagan's relationship to his deities and our relationship to the one God. If we were to decide this morning to pray as the pagans do, we would have to believe that our prayers might not be heard; that our prayers might be in vain; that our needs might not be met; that our health, our wealth, our lives rest on the reckless will of Fate, or Nature, or Fortune. Jesus teaches his disciples, “Do not be like [the babbling pagans at prayer]. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

If the pagans of Jesus' day babbled at prayer, attempting to gain the favor of their fickle gods, then what is it that we do in prayer that distinguishes us from them? Why isn't Christian prayer just pagan babbling using a different vocabulary? The difference that matters is this: we do not pray in order to appease God, or to bargain with Him, or to cajole Him into changing His mind. We do not perform magical rites in order to gain control of God, or to summon Him before us to explain the mysteries of the universe, or to help us find buried treasure. He is not a wood sprite, or a water nymph, or a mountain spirit. Nor, for that matter, is He an impersonal Unmoved Mover, or an abstracted First Cause. Our God is our Father, a father who knows all that we need before we ask. What bargain could we strike with someone who knows us better than we know ourselves? What kind of father would subject his children to capricious fortune, to stultifying fate?

If we do not bargain or appease or cajole with our prayers, and if our Father already knows our needs, then why do we bother praying at all? By definition, it seems, Christian prayer is nothing more than vain babbling! Perhaps we are more pagan than we want to admit. And this would be true except that Christian prayer is first and foremost an exercise in transforming the ones who pray. Prayer changes us not God. By asking for what we need, even though God already knows what we need, we establish and nurture the deepest roots of our relationship with our Father: humility. By asking for what we need and receiving His gifts with thanksgiving, we feed, strengthen, and grow our obedience to His will and thrive by participating more intensely in His divine nature. 

And this is why the Word was made flesh: so that we might come to the Father perfect as He himself is perfect. Isaiah reports the Lord saying, “[My word] shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.” He sent His word among us with a purpose. Not to frighten us with threats of punishment, or beat us into submission, or bribe us with promises of fabulous wealth. He sent His word among us to love us and to return us to Him in love. We do not have to consult drugged-out oracles, or read the entrails of sacrificed animals to know our Father's will for us. We pray, “Your will be done. . .” and give Him thanks and praise. His word will achieve its end. And that end is our salvation.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

I have a list of airports that I will not use--O'Hare, JFK, Miami, and Heathrow is edging its way onto the list.  Now I will have to add any airport using full body scans.  Curious:  will they have Extra Roomy Scanners for us full-figured passengers?  You know, like those open MRI machines?

Dude!  Pass the Spirit of Vatican Two peace bong!  Does this pic help explain what happened to the council?

Warning:  do not click this link if you are serious about Lent this year!

How do you say "cheese-eating-surrender-monkeys" in Dutch?

Tradition has it that Dominican wear their rosaries on the left side of the OP habit as a replacement for the knight's sword.  I wonder if a holstered .38 would be appropriate on the right side?

Technology put to the best use possible.

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Finally! The true cause of the medieval warming period. . .

 Heh.

(H/T:  Newsbusters)

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Satan: the First Poacher

1st Sunday of Lent: Readings

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

SS. Domenico e Sisto, Roma

Who knows what tempts you better than you do? You know the sights that can draw your eye; the possibilities that make your heart beat a little faster; the delights that lead you off the righteous path into the wilderness of sin. If power and prestige can't tempt you, maybe vengeance or victory can. If food, drink, sex have no inordinate appeal to you, maybe possessions or dissolute daydreams can grab you. Though what tempts each of us is calculated to appeal to an individual weakness, all of our weaknesses together share a common theme: sell eternal life for the price of a moment's indulgence; exchange enduring love for temporary affection, divine mercy for worldly pardon. Temptation is all about showing us what we can have right now if we would just let go of all that we have been given as heirs to the Kingdom. The Devil whispers, “Sign over your eternal inheritance, and I'll give you everything you desire right now.” You do know what you want, right? I mean, you can draw up a list of desires; catalog everything you need, true? If you can't, no worries. The Devil is here to help. If anyone knows what you desire better than you do, it's the Fallen Angel. He's eager to parade all of God's eternal rewards before you. The catch? Nothing he can show you is his to give. Everything he can show you comes with a price. 

We might wonder why the Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the Adversary. Is there really any chance that he might surrender to temptation and fall from his Father's grace? Could the Devil win? Nope. Jesus can be tempted, but he cannot sin. If he cannot sin, what's the point of tempting him? Why does the Devil waste his time? Quite apart from the fact that it is the Devil's nature to tempt God's children to sin, it's important for us to see how temptation works, to understand what's so appealing about what the Devil has to offer and why his wares are so dangerous. The first thing we must remember about the Devil is that he is a fallen angel. Once, he was placed at the pinnacle of the Lord's angelic hierarchy. He enjoyed God's favor; lived at the foot of the Throne. He has seen what awaits us if we endure in Christ. He also knows that if we endure in Christ and find ourselves face-to-face with the Divine, his self-imposed loneliness and despair is made all the more intense. By enduring in Christ, we abandon for eternity the demonic agenda of rebellion against our Father. And Rebellion longs for nothing more than it longs for miserable company. So, the Devil's recruitment program is simple: offer us our heavenly reward to be enjoyed now; tempt us to borrow against our inheritance and party 'til it's spent. 

Think about what tempts you. Why do those particular things appeal to you? What is it about power, prestige, sex, money, vengeance, food/drink, etc. that draws your eye? Are you so corrupted, so deeply fallen that you long for these delights? Maybe so. But your corruption doesn't explain why power, prestige, sex, etc. are appealing. Our fall from grace doesn't explain the lure of greed or envy or wrath. Pride, sloth, lust, etc. are all states of a soul already surrendered to temptation. Why do these souls surrender? Remember what the Devil knows. He has seen what awaits us if we endure in Christ. Having seen our perfected reward in heaven, he can show us imperfect copies, distorted imitations. In fact, the only thing he can tempt us with is cheap knock-offs, bootlegged versions of the prizes Christ has already awarded us. The temptation to indulge in inordinate sexual desire is nothing more than an offer to fake a genuine loving relationship. The temptation is indulge wrath through vengeance is nothing more than an offer to distort true justice in charity. Everything that tempts us to sin is a godly desire perverted to serve Rebellion.

This is what Jesus teaches us in the desert. Everything the Devil uses to lure Jesus into the demonic fold already belongs to the Lord. Christ already possesses all wealth, all power, all bodily fulfillment. The only course left to the Devil is to promise to give these treasures to Jesus now. Skip the teaching and preaching, skip the miracles; skip the beatings, the ridicule, the Cross. Skip all the nasty, brutal pain and suffering and all this can be yours. Jesus answers the Devil by saying, in essence, “These are mine already. You cannot give what is not yours.” The Devil is defeated not by the force of Christ's will to endure temptation but by the fact that the fallen angel has nothing to give, nothing with which to reward those who surrender to him. All he can do is hold a filthy mirror up to the Father's heavenly treasures and promise that the murky reflections are the real thing. The Devil is crushed by truth.

Can we turn this episode in the desert into a weapon against temptation? Yes! If the Devil is only able to tempt us using fun-house mirrors to make fraudulent promises of treasure, then all we need do is carefully examine what it is that tempts us. If we can discern our temptations, we can discern what it is that we most desire from God. If I am tempted by worldly prestige, then perhaps what I most desire from God is the chance to use my gifts for His glory. If I am tempted by inordinate sexual desires, then perhaps what I most desire from God is the gift to truly love without limits. Our weapon against temptation is not willful, stoic resistance but prayerful discernment for clarity about what gifts we need to do the work we have been given to do. Certainly, we can resist temptation but even the strongest walls eventually fall when placed under siege. At what point in the battle do we come to believe that by resisting temptation we are actually refusing a divine gift? That's the greatest temptation of all! How many Christians commit adultery in the name of true love? How many Christians welcome the abuse of worldly power in the name of social justice? Have you ever surrendered to temptation so that a “greater good” might be accomplish? It's a trap. A very dangerous, very devilish trap.

You can spend these forty days of Lent mulling over your sin and seeking after mercy. That's hardly a waste of the season. But here's a challenge for you: rather than contemplating past sins, contemplate on what tempts you to sin. Watch for those times that the Devil draws you in and then contemplate on what gifts you desire most from God. The Devil will promise you a knock-off. But only the Lord can give you a genuine grace.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

Is the U.K. Labour Prime Minister physically abusing his staff? 

"Dark Age" theologians called witchcraft nonsense.  Enlightened Renaissance scientists believed witches had real power.  Heh.  (H/T:  Mark Shea)

More proof that SSM is all about pushing the Church out of the public square.

Why are condoms taking up 70% of the medical storage space in Haiti? 

The limits of left-liberal tolerance in Sweden:  Jews leaving b/c of rise in anti-Jewish attacks.  

What lives in the deepest depths of the ocean?

I wonder if this guy could build one of these to come clean my room: Japanese Rube Goldberg machines.

Someone is just a little TOO excited by the party favors. 

World suicide rates.  NB.  the world's poorest countries have the lowest rates of reported suicide.  The rate in the U.S. is 11.10/100,000.  In Mexico it's 4.05/100,000. 

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Lenten Reflection 3: the Divine HMO

“Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”

Jesus isn't known as the Great Physician for no reason. The word “salvation” has its roots in the Latin word for health, “salus, salutis.” Our spiritual health is our salvation in Christ. To get well implies that one was sick. The well don't get well, only the sick can get well. Lent is a season of sacrifice to be sure, but it is also a season for diagnosis—to dia is to “split apart” and gnosis is knowledge, so to diagnose is to split apart knowledge, or dissect what you know in order to learn more. The exploration of your interior life with God is what the Church's Lenten exercises are all about. Think of fasting, prayer, alms giving, and charitable works as diagnostic tools for figuring out what's wrong with you spiritually. Difficulty fasting? Perhaps you are inordinately attached to food, drink, TV, smoking, etc. Having trouble with prayer? Maybe you are experiencing a profound lack of humility, a reluctance to submit to your total dependence on God. Alms giving causing you problems? Looks like trusting in the Lord's loving providence may be at the root of the problem rather than simple greed. Not open to doing charitable works? Could be that you are less than pleased to receive the charity of others, or perhaps you are making an idol of independence. Jesus says that he calls sinners—the sick—to righteous—good spiritual health. Those among us who live and breath righteousness have no need of a cure. The rest of us are in need of a good physician. Fortunately, we all participate in the Divine HMO of the Church. No exclusion for pre-existing conditions. No co-pays. And all the nurses are angels!

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

Dali Lama thrown out of the White House with the daily garbage?  Stay classy, B.O.!

Despite the fact the suicide bomber in Austin, TX was a publicly professed socialist and anti-Catholic bigot, the lefty MSM strains at portraying him as a right-wing zealot with connections to the Tea Party.  Clueless, anyone?

Sitting next to fat people on a plane. . .for the record, I never need a seat extender and I can sit with the arm rest down.

Deadwood university faculty:  what to do?  The Supreme Court ruled mandatory retirement for tenured faculty unconstitutional back in the late '90's.  This is a big part of the problem for new PhD's in the job search. 

The Unwashed Masses of Fly-over Country vs. Our Cultural Betters:  why we aren't buying the faux populism of those who think themselves our superiors.

On the use of nominalism in the war against terror. . .what's in a name?

What role does religion play in propping up a fascistic state?

"Using every licit means. . ."  Franciscan friars skateboarding for Jesus!

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Lenten Reflection 2: the hard way vs. the easy way

“This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.”

The teens in the rehab program of the psych hospital I worked for were rarely happy to find themselves locked up. State regs required that all new patients be strip-searched for contraband and weapons. We weren't treating rich kids from the city's gated communities. Our male patients were mostly violent gang members, or gang-wannabes. When it came time for a new guy to go through the search, he usually balked and became very, very agitated. Inevitably, I found myself giving him a rather stark choice: “You can choose to do this the easy way or the hard way.” The hard way involved four or five 250 lbs staff taking him to the floor and putting him in restraints. In the four and a half years I worked on the unit, Staff never failed to carry out the required search.

We can take easy way or the hard way in practicing our faith. Unlike my stubborn patients, we are encouraged to choose the hard way. Isaiah reports that the Lord is not really all that interested in our ashes and sackcloth and weeping. You can be a brutal slave driver and still manage the charade of public penance at the end of the day: “Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?” Unfortunately, we sometimes do. So, what is the fasting that the Lord wishes from us? Setting free captives unjustly bound; feeding the hungry, giving food and shelter to the homeless; in other words, a fast of charitable service to those who need to see and hear and feel the love of God. Why is this the hard way? There are no 250 lbs staff members waiting to pounce and force us to be servants. There are no restraints involuntarily placed on our charity. We are as free to be as miserly or as generous as we choose. The real choice here is between being the master with an enslaved heart, or a slave with a heart truly freed. 

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

Technology and the Orwellian Age:  high school uses student laptops for spying!

Finally.  Heads are starting to roll over the U.N. "Climate Change" boondoggle.  NB.  This guy is a social worker NOT a scientist. 

Dominican friar appointed archbishop of Prague. 

Number of exorcisms on the rise in Poland. 

Most likely to attend Church:  Mississippians.  Least likely Vermontians.

The art of hiding. . .there may be one crawling on you right NOW!!!

Optical illusions:  these things drive me crazy.

During Lent, tape this pic on your 'fridge with the caption, "I'm watching you!"

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Lenten Reflection 1: the Devil's pretty hooks

"What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?”

Few of us will be offered the chance to forfeit ourselves in exchange for gaining the whole world.  That would be a temptation worth thinking about twice!  Unfortunately, most of us are seriously tempted by far less than the acquisition of global power and wealth.   The Devil knows us well. . .too well.  He knows that trying to sell us on a deal of Having It All in exchange for our allegiance would raise suspicions.  Too big.  Too complex.  Not a workable temptation.  Instead, he offers us smaller, more manageable lures to catch us out.  Once we've taken the bait, it's just a matter of waiting for the hook to dig in deeper.  He gives us some slack.  Lets us run a while.  And then, just when we think our deal with the Devil has been just a little harmless fun, he snaps the line and reels us in.  Jesus says that we must deny ourselves daily, take up our cross daily, follow him daily. Persistence, vigilance, fortitude. 

The happiest fish is the fish that stays clear of fishermen fishing with pretty hooks.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

SSM proponents in CA misunderstanding religious opposition to their agenda. . .they seem to think that religious folks oppose SSM for no other reason than that radically redefining marriage will encroach on the free exercise of religion.  It doesn't occur to them that opposition to SSM might be based on something more than raw politics.

A Rome-leaning Anglican bishop is talking directly with the CDF about the Holy Father's initiative to welcome alienated Anglicans into the Church.  Why direct talks with Rome rather than talking to the bishops' conference of England & Wales?  Look like the English and Welsh bishops aren't all that interested in seeing the Pope's plan implemented.

E.U. Nanny State begins a bloodless coup in Greece. . .bureaucrats as revolutionaries?

Strange but necessary:  AZ proposes law to bar judges from using foreign/religious law in making legal decisions in an American court. 

Report on the Holy Father's Ash Wednesday service at O.P. headquarters, Santa Sabina.  NB.  for those who insist that all Real Catholics wear their ashes all day. . .the Roman custom (cf. pic) is to receive the ashes sprinkled on the head rather than smeared on the forehead.

Aaaahhhhh. . .true Zombie love.

The American Psychological Association is revising its diagnostic manual.  They need to include ambulothanatophobia in the revision.  Just sayin'.

Oddly disturbing animal pics. . .the Gatorfrog?  G.I. Cow?

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Daily meditations & the BDWLE

I'm going to make an effort this Lent to post a short, daily reflection on the Mass readings.  I've tried this before and failed rather miserably.  Try, try again, right?

The Book Depository Wish List experiment continues. . .

Four of the seven original books on the list have been sent my way! 

I rec'd another surprise recently.

Please, remember to let me know via the combox here if you decide to make a purchase from this list.  B.D. doesn't delete a book from the list when it is purchased, so there's the risk of duplicate purchases.

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Now is the day of salvation

Ash Wednesday 2010: Readings

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

SS. Domenico e Sisto, Roma

We begin the Lenten season of 2010 with this declaration: “Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” An admonishment from Paul against receiving God's grace in vain, the Church in Corinth back then and the Church gathered here right now are urged to remember that our salvation through Christ is not only a subject for ancient history and a concern for the distant future but also a decision to be made NOW. Paul, an ambassador for Christ, writes, “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” To choose reconciliation with the Father through His Son is the supreme act of humility, the recognition that we are completely dependent on His love for us—for our creation from ash, our re-creation out of an emptied tomb, and for our final rest in His kingdom. We receive the ashes of Lent this morning to celebrate our dependency, to mark our mortality. And, most importantly, to show ourselves as pilgrims on the way to Easter morning. 

To help us arrive properly prepared in Jerusalem on Easter morning, forty days of the Church year are set aside so that we might be summoned daily to the work of repentance. And so that we do not fall into the trap of believing that the work of repentance is merely a matter for the intellect alone but the work of the body as well, we are called upon to fast, to pray, to give alms, to do the good work of Christ among his people. Mind, heart, hands—all that we are must be reconciled. To his disciples, Jesus lays down a challenge: resist the temptation to play at being repentant; reject the performance art of public repentance; do not follow the hypocrites in drawing attention to yourself for the sake of pious praise. Instead, truly repent; receive God's forgiveness in secret; go out into the world clean, smiling, joyful. Wash your face, anoint your head, and receive all the Lord has to give you.

“Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

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This Ash Wednesday. . .declare war!

Fr. Z. (always a good read!) offers the indispensable service of translating the Latin prayers of the Church  into English.

Today, he offers us a translation of the Collect for the Ash Wednesday Mass from the '62 Missale Romanum:

COLLECT:
 

Concede nobis, Domine, praesidia militiae christianae
sanctis inchoare ieiuniis,
ut, contra spiritales nequitias pugnaturi,
continentiae muniamur auxiliis.

[. . .]

LITERAL TRANSLATION:
 

Grant us, O Lord, to commence the defenses of the Christian 

field campaign by means of holy fasts, so that, we who are about

to do battle against spiritual negligences,
may be fortified by the support of continence.

Martial imagery in prayer, long out of fashion in the post-VC2 Church, has its appeal for those of us who must do more than merely struggle with temptation.  

May today mark a declaration of war on the Arch-Terrorist.

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Against the Leaven of the Pharisees

6th Week OT (T): Readings

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

SS. Domenico e Sisto, Roma

James, writing to “the twelve tribes in dispersion,” neatly summarizes how we arrive at spiritual destruction: “. . .each person is tempted when lured and enticed by his desire. Then desire conceives and brings forth sin, and when sin reaches maturity it gives birth to death.” Desire tempts us to sin and sin leads to death. James' contemporary readers would have rightly assumed that the tempting desire that leads to sin is inordinate, that is, disordered or unnatural, a willful distortion of what is good and right. We know that not all desires immediately lead to disobedience; in fact, some desires lead us straight to God, to obedience and righteousness. Intriguingly, James writes that “desire conceives and brings forth sin. . .” If we pursue the image here—a desire conceiving like a woman conceives a child—we may ask: who's the husband to our desire and the father of our sin? To put it in more pedestrian terms: what can be added to a perfectly natural desire that changes it into a source for sin? Jesus warns the disciples, “Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” 

Since we are reading Mark's gospel this morning, it shouldn't surprise us that the disciples are dumbfounded by this rather enigmatic warning. It seems like Jesus spends most of his time in Mark's gospel thumping the thick skulls of the poor disciples! This time, when they misunderstand his warning, he scolds them, “Do you not yet understand or comprehend? Are your hearts hardened?” What have our slow-learning brothers missed? What truth has dashed itself against their rock-hard hearts? First, they have forgotten that Jesus identifies the “leaven of the Pharisees” as the sin of hypocrisy—the public pretense of holiness that hides spiritual corruption (Luke 12.1). Second, they have failed to understand completely the significance of the miracle of the fishes and the loaves. Like a stern school master, Jesus rehearses the correct answers with them. Alright boys, how many loaves were leftover when the crowds had finished eating the bread I provided for them? Seven and twelve, they respond. Now, do you understand, he asks?

The leaven of the Pharisees is hypocrisy—a show, a piece of playacting to please an audience. In fact, the first hypocrites were Greek actors who used elaborate masks and tricks with the voice to portray different characters in a play. They followed a script; choreographed their movements; and wildly exaggerated their emotions all to stimulate their fans. For the Pharisees, the husband to desire and the father of sin is pretending to be holy, pretending to be righteous, and all for show. Their desire to actually be holy is leavened, raised up and given life, as a parody of real holiness: white-washed tombs, clean on the outside, rotting on the inside. Jesus compares their showy pretense at righteousness with his own miraculous leavening for the benefit of nine thousand people on two occasions: real bread to feed the hungry with baskets-full leftover. The Pharisees put on a nice act; Jesus delivers the real deal. 

If we are to marry the desire for righteousness and conceive the Word, we too must be wary of the leaven of the Pharisees, remembering who it is that gives us life. James writes, “[God] willed to give us birth by the word of truth that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” We ourselves are made by the Word of Truth, reborn in this Truth, and, if we choose to leaven our desires with true holiness, we will conceive and give birth to His Word made flesh, Christ Jesus.

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Death is a vanity

6th Sunday OT: Readings

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

SS. Domenico e Sisto, Roma

Catholics are rarely accused of practicing an efficient or simplified faith. Two thousand years of accumulated philosophical and theological thinking woven together in the public celebration of the sacraments plus centuries of involvement in secular politics and international missionary efforts have bequeathed to the 21st century Church a vast global corporation with roots deeply embedded in human history. Thus, the practice of the Catholic faith is anything but culturally rigid and historically frozen. Sure, doctrinally, we share a single faith. But how that single faith gets lived on a daily basis around the world is hardly a matter of lock-step spiritual regimentation. Such orderliness and consistency would require the Church to “bottom-line” the faith, to boil it down, reduce it to a catch-phrase or a mission statement. And even then there would still be incredible variety in actual practice. But let's say we were going to take on the challenge of encapsulating the complexity of the faith into a single teaching, just one proposition that Really Mattered above all others. What would we come up with? I'm not sure we could do better than Paul does in his letter to the Corinthians: “If the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.” What would make our faith a vanity, a frivolity? That Christ never rose from the dead. Without the resurrection, we are still held captive by sin, perishing even as we breath.

Let's focus for a moment on the question of what it is that makes an act, or a belief, or a habit vain. First, we have to think beyond the typical use of the word “vain.” Cocky, conceited, or narcissistic. But why do we use “vain” to describe someone who is full of themselves? This brings us to the second, less common use of the word. Frivolous, hollow, futile. Someone who builds a life on looks, smarts, wealth and then lauds these qualities as valuable in themselves can be described a vain because they have inflated what is in realty a temporary condition into an illusion of something permanent. Since looks fade, smarts can be deceived, and wealth lost, it is vanity—futility, foolishness, emptiness—to count oneself worthy based on nothing more than that which can be destroyed. “How long will you be dull of heart? Why do you love vanity, and seek after lying?” (Ps 4.3). Loving trivially while you live is a curse. Loving the trivial at death is damnation.

Paul writes that our faith would be a vanity if Christ had not been raised from the dead. We would be foolish to put our trust in God if the promised resurrection had not occurred. We would be living lives emptied of eternal purpose, living our short lives as little more than exceptionally smart animals destined to ashes and then. . .nothing. If this were true, then our suffering while we live is the greatest vanity of all. The French philosopher, Albert Camus, once said that the only significant philosophical question is: why not commit suicide? Why suffer if there is nothing more for us than suffering? Perhaps our only chance to be courageous is to end it all now. Fear of pain or the unknown may cause us to hesitate, but overcoming this hesitation would be an act of freedom, pure liberated choice. Gun to the head, I choose to suffer no longer. POW! And then I am free. But can a bullet to the head truly free me from the futility of suffering? No. Assuming the impossibility of an afterlife, suicide can foreclose the possibility of any future suffering. But it does nothing to redeem the suffering I have experienced in the past nor the suffering I have caused to others. Death is not a new life. It's just the end of this one. Without the resurrection, death itself proves to be a vanity.

So, what does the resurrection add to the mix that changes the futility of death into the blessing of eternal life? The hope, the promise of life beyond life, another way of living that draws us—especially in our suffering—into a superlative renewal. Paul writes that if the resurrection had not occurred, then those who have died have truly perished and “if for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all.” We are indeed worthy of pity if we have hoped in Christ only to die into a permanent death. Think for a moment. How would we suffer if we knew that suffering was all we had to live for? We would mourn, hunger, weep; endure persecution, insult, torture; live in poverty and desperation; practice forgiveness and mercy all the while knowing that we would never been shown either. Where is the beauty of suffering if suffering is all we can hope for? Why mourn the dead if death is a release from pain? Why weep in hunger if hunger will bring us to an end? Why endure insult and persecution if those who would torture us are right about the vanity of our hope? Without the resurrection, there is no good reason for us to do anything but seek after our own pleasure while we can, regardless of the costs and knowing even as we celebrate that the party will end. 

Christ's resurrection, and our hope in following after him, turns the curse of inevitable suffering into the blessing of eternal life. The ugliness and disease of sin is redeemed into the beauty of godly perfection. Rather than curse those who mourn, weep, endure insult, hunger and thirst, we bless them, knowing that everything persevered here and now is also redeemed here and now, made new, wholly and utterly transformed into acts of praise and thanksgiving here and now. After death, our suffering is made perfect in the sufferings of Christ, but here and now, while we endure, we are blessed with the hope of that perfection. If we will, we can call the state of suffering with hope, Beatitude—the beautiful life lived in Christ. Jeremiah prophesies, “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is the Lord. He is like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream. . .” And as we stretch our thirsty roots, seeking out the waters of eternal life, the hope we share in Christ sings just one refrain over and over again: there is nothing we should fear. Nothing. The beauty of hope does more than oppose fear, it conquers fear. And that victory was won long ago. The rock of the tomb was pushed aside and the grave was found empty. Our perishing—though painful—is redeemed. And our beautiful lives in Christ, here and now, are blessed beyond measure.

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