Homily Notes: 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

The Second Reading is 1 Corinthians 13…I wonder what Fr. David will speak about???

“The greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13b) What is the beating heart of the Christian faith? Agape. Selfless love. We have come to the center, to the singularly distinctive characteristic of Christianity. Love. Christianity in its essentials comes down to charity, and nothing else.

I once heard of a Moslem scholar describing Christianity as it appeared to outsiders, as it appeared to the Muslims. He said that Christians are institution builders. They erect parishes with schools and hospitals and universities and agencies to serve the poor. From the Muslim perspective, Christians build and service various sorts of institutions. Such an analysis makes me tremble. Hopefully the heart of all our institutions, the driving force behind them, the raison d’etre for them is selfless love. An institution merely for the sake of an institution is pathetic vanity.

Jesus makes clear the centrality of love in the Gospels. His Great Commandment, in Greek His “Mega” Commandment is, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37) (This is the raison d’etre for my blog.) The Second Commandment is like it, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:39) Thus the two greatest commandments concern love. This is 1 Corinthians 13 boiled down to the essentials.

If you find me to be obsessed or repetitive on this topic, you would not be the first. At my Deacon parish, St. John the Evangelist in Davison, MI one of folks called me “Mr. Agape” because I was always homilizing about it. Some things never change.

We are limited in the English language with only one tiny word to summarize the semantic equivalent of Asia. So with one lonely word I say, “I love pretzels. I love Merlot. I love Chopin. I love Greek. I love my parish. I love my mother. I love Jesus.” Hopefully, I mean drastically different things when I use the same predicate to describe my relationship with pretzels and with my Savior.

Greek has a greater variety of verbs to capture diverse shades of meaning. So when I want to express affection for food or drink or music, or any thing I can use the word storge. When I want to express the higher love I have for a friend or relation, I can use the word philia. When I need to describe the superlative love between a husband and wife which can result in the procreation of immortal beings, thus changing the universe forever, I have the Greek word eros. Finally, when I want to describe Who God Is, when I want to explain the fundamental nature of all reality, when I want to express divine love, I can use the word agape.

We see agape writ large on the cross. The cross is the perfect picture of a love that gives and gives and does not know how to say “enough!” The Eucharist is another excellent example of agape, obviously since it is tied so closely to the cross. Jesus said, “This is my body given up for you…this is my blood shed for you.” Jesus gives us His whole self in the Eucharist, holding nothing back. This is agape-love.

St. Paul elevates agape-love beyond any other Christian reality. Towards the end of 1 Corinthians chapter 12, St. Paul describes various spiritual gifts (in Greek, charismata). He lists tongues, healers, and workers of miracles. However in verse 31 he writes, “But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.” Higher gifts than healing and working miracles? More excellent than that? Oh my.

Do we think of love as St. Paul does? Without it we are “a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” Without love we are NOTHING; in spite of our best efforts, without love we gain NOTHING. “Love is patient and kind…not jealous…boastful…arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends…” (1 Corinthians 13:1-8a)

This self-sacrificing agape, this gift-love, cross-love, pours itself out on behalf of its beloved. What is most distinguishing in St. Paul’s description of it is its ability to endure despite suffering. Real love patiently puts up with tons of garbage. Love remains steadfast in the face of suffering and evil and rejection. The best human comparison I can find for agape-love is parent-love. Father-love and mother-love is often warfare. The love of a parent fights with evil and selfishness and hate and betrayal and all love’s enemies.

One might reasonably object, “Well what about hurtful people? What about those who wound me or make me, or those I love, feel worthless? How do I love toxic people?” How did Jesus love us in our toxicity? To love others in this way is hard and painful, just like the cross. In fact, to love others in this way is impossible without following The Great Commandment. We cannot love our sinful, fallen, wicked neighbor without God's help, without God’s power, without God’s strength, without God’s love. There may be times when the most loving thing possible is avoidance and private prayer. Loving others does not mean we have to invite them over to dinner or take them out to the movies. Loving others in this way does not mean we have to silently endure abuse or ignore evil in our midst. Real love does not ignore the truth and real love fights evil.

One of the greatest benefits of The Great Commandment is the freedom it brings. St. Augustine said it well when he said, “Love, and do what you will.” Indeed, this is the true freedom of the children of God. Love God. Love neighbor. And do what you will.

Apologies

Our internet service provider (Comcast) has cut me (and the rest of STA) off from the Internet and e-mail for nearly a week now. I hope the problem is solved, and I can return to blogging. Peace.

Fr. David weighs in on The Situation
Homily Notes: 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

[N. B. For those who do not normally read Catholic Blogs: The phrase, “The Situation” is shorthand for the clergy sex-abuse scandal, the concomitant cover-ups, the media frenzy, etc.]

The Catholic Church in the United States has been rocked these past few years by the nightmare of the sex-abuse scandal. This is by far the greatest crisis, the lowest point, in the history of the Catholic Church in the United States. There is only one way to describe the actions of any member of the clergy who has abused a child, or exploited a young person: monstrously wicked, criminal, despicable, loathsome, reprehensible, fiendish, nefarious. Rather, scratch all that, adjectives fail utterly to get to the nadir of this disaster. It doesn’t matter how miniscule the percentage of clergy involved: One child harmed is one too many. Hiding or covering-up these crimes must also be forcefully condemned.

Although the focus these past two years has been on the Catholic Church, as a Social Worker I know from personal experience, the shocking scope of sexual abuse against children extends to countless other professions, and sadly most often to the relatives of victims. One study puts the number of victims of child sexual abuse at 40 million in the United States alone. Perhaps the tragedies in the Catholic Church can serve to raise the alarm about this broader calamity.

In the face of such grotesque iniquity one could easily (and understandably) be led to reject the Church entirely. But this would be a sad mistake. That would be like having cancer and saying, “Well some doctors are negligent quacks, therefore, I reject modern medicine.” The fact is that if we reject the Church, we reject Jesus; it’s as simple as that. The Church is Christ’s Body, which He gave us as the sacrament of salvation. And we cannot separate Christ the Head from the rest of His Body.

Our rugged American individualism deceives many into a false “me and Jesus” mentality. There is no “me and Jesus,” no solipsistic, radical autonomy where the two of us are separate from all others. There is only Jesus and His Church, and even that suggests a false duality. As St. Paul says, “Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it.” (1 Corinthians 12:27) And, “the body is one.” (1 Corinthians 12:12) Jesus is the head, and we are the members of His Body, the Church. There can be no separation of the two.

I think of St. Joan of Arc, a woman who was condemned and murdered by agents of the Catholic Church. You can still read her decree of execution signed by bishops and theologians. St. Joan of Arc, at her trial spoke well of the Church in relation to Jesus, when responding to her judges, she said, “About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they’re just one thing, and we shouldn’t complicate the matter” (CCC 795). This sums up scripture’s testimony, the faith of the holy doctors and the good sense of all believers.

People today often try to divorce Christ from His Church, to cut off the Head from the members. This is impossible. Christ’s Body is one and undivided. Clearly it is also torn and wounded; it has been from apostolic times. Indeed we read about wickedness, schisms and heresies right in the New Testament.

Some people attempt to separate and label “the institutional Church,” “Rome,” “the Hierarchy,” or “the Vatican” as “bad,” while leaving the “rest of the Church,” “the people” as “good.” Nonsense. Others proclaim, “We are Church” and so we are, along with the Pope and the successors of the Apostles. There is no, “Us” and, “Them.” We’re all in this together. The Church is Christ's one Body, not two, undivided.

Similarly, some speak of “sweet and gentle Jesus” and His message of peace. They entirely forget or ignore the considerable difficulty and challenge of the Gospel. “Sweet and gentle Jesus” makes Him sound like a pussycat. A more accurate description would be the “Lion of the tribe of Judah.” They say, “I’ll take two servings of Easter, thank you, and three helpings of Christmas, but you can keep that teaching on abortion.” This is another false dichotomy. There can be no false split between the teachings of Jesus and His Church.

The Church proclaims Christ’s teaching, and no other’s. Indeed, when the Church is stubborn about her teaching, she is merely being faithful to Christ. Even when the Church addresses matters that were not considered 2000 years ago, we know that Jesus, through His Holy Spirit, guides us into all truth. Indeed, He promised, “Lo I am with you always, until the end of the world” and “When the Spirit of Truth comes He will guide you into all truth.” He will not abandon us, and He does not let His Church fail in its teachings on faith and morals.

Nevertheless, we are left unsatisfied with our original objection unaddressed. What are we to think of the scandals, of the mysterium iniquitatis, the mystery of evil, into which we see members of the Church, even the most trusted leaders of the Church fall?

We need look no further than the Body of Christ. In the Body we find, stinky, nasty, filthy goo. We shouldn’t allow ourselves to be overly disturbed by what moves through the Church’s bowels, and is on its way into the latrine, as Jesus said. Similarly, we shouldn’t pay too much attention to the flakes; that is, what flakes off Christ’s Body, the Church.

Indeed, if I may be so bold to offer a bit of advice: Don’t get too caught up in the local Church, and I don’t just mean the Church in Michigan, or the Church in the United States, or even the Church all over the world. That’s just the local Church. The real Church, the real body is a vast array, a huge assembly, a countless multitude, a glorious family of saints, martyrs, prophets, teachers, preachers, healers, priests, religious, married men and women, and simple people of all stripes who spent their lives loving and serving Jesus Christ. This glorious people is the real Body of Christ. In the light of The Situation, in our place and time, it is even more crucial to keep our perspective on the whole Body: Head and members all.

This. Must. Stop.


[N.B. The first part of this post is pinched bald-facedly from a lecture by Robert P. George, as reported in the September 2003 issue of Crisis Magazine.]

There are many who say, “I'm personally opposed to abortion, but I'm pro-choice.” We must ask, “Is this a logically coherent position?” If abortion is wrong, it is so because the zygote, the embryo, the fetus, is a human being in an early stage of development. If this is human life, what sort of monstrous political order could allow abortion to continue? On the other hand, if the fetus is not a human being in an early stage of development, if it is merely unwanted tissue, like a tumor, then how could anyone be “personally opposed” to the procedure? Note how this question is neither moral, nor theological nor philosophical. This is a question of developmental biology and medical embryology.

We often hear, "Well I don't want to impose my values on others. Who am I to impose my morality?" Is this argument cogent? The fact is, that in the United States today the values of the abortion industry are being imposed on us all. The abortion industry which profits by inflicting the largest, most unregulated surgical procedure in the country on betrayed women. Someone's values are going to be imposed.

It's a shame that more German citizens did not try harder to impose their values in opposition to Hitler's in the early 1930s. Imagine if the abolitionists of the 19th century had said, "Well, I'm personally opposed to slavery, but who am I to impose my views on the southern states?" Where would we be if Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. refused to impose his views on the Jim Crow south? “I’m personally opposed to rape, but who am I to impose my values?” Please. This is trite, worn out, twaddle.

Someone's views are going to be imposed. We must not let obfuscator’s rhetoric gag our message. We have just as much right as anyone to express and try to implement our views.

I discern much confusion surrounding the abortion calamity. A grave mistake is to suppose that this is one issue among many: To conclude that abortion is like worker’s rights or welfare reform or any other social problem. There are other important social concerns which demand the attention and labors of Christians. These must be addressed. But they are completely different from the nightmare of abortion. This is a distinction in kind, not merely in degree. Abortion is always the direct killing of an innocent. It is unlike any other issue.

There is confusion over the women who procure abortion. Regardless of what the pro-abortion media tells us, these are not women with freedom of choice. These are women with no freedom and no choice. They are trapped, often abandoned by irresponsible men. These women are the victims of a perverse conspiracy. They are being lied to and deceived. Abortion proponents tell them, "It's nothing but a tissue-mass. The procedure is no more complicated than having a wart removed." That is a wicked deception.

Mental health professionals confirm this fact. Before I was a priest, I was a clinical worker and you can ask any psychologist or psychiatrist to corroborate my point. When you assess the mental health of a woman the question must be asked, "How many pregnancies have you had and how were they resolved?" Not just “How may births,” but “How many pregnancies and how did they end?” Common sense verifies this. Anyone who encounters a woman who has miscarried, will certainly tread lightly when discussing the matter. Almost always it was a serious trauma for the mother. And it's no different with abortion; if anything, it’s a greater agony because it is unresolved

When I was doing research in graduate school at the University of Michigan, I came across volumes full of recent studies on the phenomenon known as Post-Abortion Syndrome. You won't find much of this material published in U.S. circles because of the politics involved. The studies I read came out of Ireland and England for the most part. The reality is that women suffer appallingly as a result of abortion. It is serious trauma; there are grisly consequences. Every priest knows this first hand. We deal with the fall-out of this catastrophe all the time. The beautiful part is that Christ and His church offer genuine forgiveness and healing.

Another confusion springs from the adversarial nature of our culture. In this abortion fight there is no: "Us vs. Them," there is only "Us," at least on the human level. The pro-abortion forces in this country are not our enemies. Certainly the women who fall into this trap are not our enemies; they are victims too. There is no room in the pro-life movement for hate. There is absolutely no room in the pro-life movement for violence. The evil of abortion has dire consequences for us all. We are all in this together. Those on the wrong side of this issue are not our foes; they have been hoodwinked. We must love them. Our real enemies are “principalities and powers.” Our real enemies are spiritual: demons. This is not primarily a political fight (although we must fight unyieldingly in that arena too); it is a spiritual fight.

More than 43 million innocents have already died in this country alone over the past 31 years. We will be judged by tribunal of history for what we have done, or failed to do, on behalf of the weakest, the most vulnerable (both child and mother) in their time of peril. More importantly, we will be judged definitively by Almighty God for our omissions and commissions. For Jesus gave us a message which is both alarming and challenging, “Whatsoever you do for the least of these, that you do unto me.”

I never claimed to be a Prophet, just a simple Priest…

But this is creepy. For those of you who either heard my homily or read my post on Sunday, Newsweek’s cover story this week is disturbingly ironic. We’ve gone well beyond Huxley’s Brave New World. I suppose we can all take comfort in the hope that reason will prevail, as Newsweek reports, “Just last week the President’s Council on Bioethics discussed proposals for possible legislation that would ban the buying and selling of human embryos and far-out reproductive experimentation, like creating human-animal hybrids.” (page 47, emphasis mine). Oh good, we’re approaching the nadir of the slippery slope. We're definitely considering setting some "possible" limits now. No trafficking in unborn children (assuming it won’t hurt the economy). And no half-man-half-monkey-type-creatures. Gotcha.

I don’t claim to be a Prophet, but I’m here to tell you, unless we stop this madness, God will.

"I will not be silent...I will not be quiet." Isaiah 62:1

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would not be silent, would not be quiet in the face of hatred and evil. Indeed this Baptist minister, motivated by his faith in Jesus Christ, spent his life working to "impose his values" on a reluctant, defiant, often vicious and violent population. Considering Dr. King's achievements and murder, no one today would dare to say, "Who was he to impose his values on anyone? Who was that Baptist minister trying to change the social order; what about separation of Church and State?"

As a white man born after Dr. King's assassination, I was reflecting on what his achievements mean to me personally. Then I remembered my elementary school days, sitting in a classroom with a diverse crowd. (Now the most diverse classrooms by far that I ever haunted were in the seminary. The seminary was like a little U.N.) My grade school class had a boy from Cambodia, another from Mexico, a little girl from Brazil, an African American, and so on. During those years I remember hearing the word "segregation" from some relatives who had grown up in the Deep South during the '20s and '30s. I didn't even know the meaning of the word. When it was defined for me, the concept remained completely impenetrable. It was so far out of my experience that it simply made no sense.

Recalling this experience made me realize Dr. King's achievement: Less than one generation after the Civil Rights Act, a Virginia schoolboy couldn't even grasp the idea of segregation. Obviously Dr. King's work is incomplete. Much more needs to be done. One issue which he began to address toward the end of his days was the serious problem of economic inequality. A simple drive across any major American city shows that problem has only gotten worse. There have been some victories, but Dr. King's battle is not yet won.

He would not be silent; he would not be quiet. And neither will I.

Another event which we commemorate this week is the 31st anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, and I will not be silent! I will not be muzzled by the sophistry of the age which pulls out the hackneyed, "Don't impose your values on me!" Why shouldn't I? If it was good enough for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. it's good enough for me. Besides, the values of the pro-aborts have been imposed on me for more than 30 years now. Enough is enough!

So they cry, "Separation of Church and State...Separation of Church and State," drawing that stale phrase like a gun to shut me up. Answer: "Oh I see, and when was the First Amendment repealed exactly? I must have missed that on CNN. So only Atheists are allowed to participate in the political process? Hmm. So, if my convictions are religiously motivated they are illegitimate? Too bad. This is the United States of America, and the last time I checked, I have just as much right to participate in the political process as anyone, no matter what my motivations. The abolitionist movement was Christian in origin. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Baptist minister. Are you suggesting we bring back slavery and Jim Crow because secular humanists and agnostics were not there to impose their 'impartial' values?"

I want a new bumper sticker: "Abortion is Sexist and Racist." That's the truth. Abortion is sexist in as much as female babies are aborted more frequently than males. Amniocentesis and the latest pre-natal technologies make it possible for seriously misled people to gender-select (or murder) their child. If that's not sexism, I don't know what is. (See, for example, Mary Carmichael, "No Girls, Please" in Newsweek, January 22, 2004, page 50.)

Not to mention abortion's monstrous assault on women. The culture is lying to our women, telling them, "Oh it's nothing more than lancing a boil or removing a hangnail." Despite piles of scientific evidence and published research on Post Abortion Syndrome one never hears the phrase from mainstream media. Abortion's criminal assault on women is the most reprehensible sort of sexism.

Abortion is racist. The disproportionate number of minority children who are aborted proves the point. It's not the lily-white children who are most in danger, it's "children of color." Don't tell me that Margaret Sanger's (the founder of Planned Parenthood) eugenicist roots have not come home to roost. This is the worst sort of homicidal racism.

The magnitude of this tragedy turns my stomach and brings me to the brink of despair. Yet I will never be silent. I will never be quiet. Ever. I will not yield one inch on this issue and I think Christians of all stripes and all thoughtful people of good will must rise up to fight this evil. Upon this battle, we invoke Divine Assistance.

Comment Box Resolution

The good people over at HaloScan have taken over all the commenting accounts from Blogspeak. God bless them. This means that HaloScan has recovered and restored all your wonderful comments to their original locations. Now you can review and remember your wisdom and humor from days gone by at any time. I am grateful for HaloScan's service to us all. Let's hope this brings resolution to this problem.

The Intellect is Motivated by the Will

In my view, one of the most profound truths ever uttered outside Sacred Scripture comes from St. Thomas Aquinas: The intellect is motivated by the will. We create reasons from our wants. Our minds are formed by our wills.

In various quarters lately I’ve been running into bitter, angry people (not from STA). In spite of my best efforts to offer them hope, they have clung tenaciously to their rancor. Then I was reminded of St. Thomas’ maxim. These people crave their acrimony; they relish wallowing in it. Pride may be tied to it, perhaps self-righteousness too.

St. Paul warns us about this, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you…anger, wrath, malice, slander, and foul talk…” (Colossians 3:5, 8). In Ephesians too (4:31-32 ) St. Paul writes, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

Certainly Our Lord Jesus Christ shows us that there is a time and place for righteous indignation. Indeed, there are many evils in this world which justify and indeed demand an angry response. However, this must be distinguished from unholy wrath. St. Paul again, “If you are angry, let it be without sin. The sun must not go down on your wrath; do not give the devil a chance to work on you.” (Ephesians 4:26-27)

What I’ve been encountering lately is an unquenchable, endlessly critical spirit which is impervious to hope or reason. Granted there is much going on in the Church today to be gloomy about, but the darkness I’ve been seeing in various places called St. Thomas Aquinas’ wisdom to mind.

In my humble opinion, this is yet another reason why The Great Commandment is so crucial. If our fundamental disposition springs from The Great Commandment then our attitude towards evil, suffering, scandals, wickedness, problems, and the like will be pleasing to God. If we are obedient to Jesus’ “Mega” Commandment, we will not give into despair or rage. We will not find fault with everything and everyone. We will have hope.

The good people over at BlogSpeak are having some trouble...so I've switched over my comment boxes to Enetation. We'll see how they work. In the meantime, I've lost all your profound and appreciated comments. Boo! Hiss! A further misfortune: I've been tied up with too many things to post today. Forgiveness is a big part of the faith...ergo...

Blessings to all...

Homily Notes: The Baptism of the Lord? 2004

What’s going on here? Why on earth are we celebrating the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord in the midst of the manger, poinsettias and Christmas trees? It makes perfect sense to celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany on the Sunday after Christmas; the magi came to the Infant Lord. However, seven days later we’ve fast-forwarded thirty years to celebrate an event at the Jordan River, miles away from Bethlehem. What’s the deal? Why would the Church put this feast in the Christmas season?

To answer this question we must appreciate the Baptism of the Lord as directly related to Epiphany. Jesus Christ was first manifest to the shepherds and magi at Bethlehem. However, immediately His “Hidden Life” began and the revelation of Who He Is was put on hold. Until His Baptism at the Jordan. The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is essentially an extension of the Feast of the Epiphany. Indeed, the ancient Church linked this feast with the Wedding Feast at Cana (reported in St. John’s Gospel as the first of His signs which manifested His glory: John 2:11) as other Epiphanies. So at His Baptism in the Jordan Our Lord Jesus Christ was again revealed to the world as the “Son of the Most High.”

Another question: Why does Jesus need to be Baptized at all? If He is God Almighty, the origin and author of the sacraments, why does He need to receive Baptism? Indeed, if He is without sin, why does He need to be washed clean from sin through Baptism? This too makes no sense.

First of all, there is a fundamental distinction between John’s baptism and the Christian sacrament. John’s baptism was a Jewish ceremony, a public statement of repentance, nothing more. So Jesus is not receiving a sacrament. However, He is identifying Himself openly with sinners, as Isaiah prophesized the messiah would. So the waters of the Jordan do not sanctify the Word made flesh. Nevertheless, as St. Maximus of Turin tells us, the waters are sanctified by the One baptized. Jesus goes down into the waters of the Jordan and Baptismal water is made holy for all time. He makes sacred the element which will free us from our sins.

This feast reminds us of our own Baptism. There seems to be some confusion in our time about the effects of Baptism. Some people assume that Baptism (as well as Confirmation, and Ordination for that matter) effect Transubstantiation. Certainly when the Eucharist is confected the bread and wine cease to be and are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ. Bread and wine are no longer present. He is. Such is not the case with Baptism. In Baptism we are transformed into sons and daughters of God but not transubstantiated.

Unfortunately, some people have too high an expectation for this sacrament. They complain, “Well s/he goes to church, but still does…such and such.” The unstated assumption is that somehow Baptism and profession of Christian faith should generate immaculate, sinless people. They forget the pervasive, lingering effects of Original Sin. However, as C. S. Lewis points out (rightly as always), imagine where these people would be without grace, without the sacraments and their faith. A marginally sinful person might otherwise be a monster.

Messianic words from the prophet Isaiah (42:3) help to explain this mystery, “A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench.” Every Christian is a bruised reed, a smoldering wick. Baptism plants the reed’s seed and sparks the fire. Nevertheless, sin still bruises us and dampens our flame. But God is patient with us. Jesus binds up our wounds; puts a splint on our floppy spines. He blows gently on our little spark; adds fuel and protects us from the pounding winds. He longs to turn our bruised reed into a gallant oak, with thick bark, wide branches, and deep roots. The oak He has in mind sways gently despite gale-force winds. He longs to fan our sparks into a raging flame. He longs to make us combustible, sharing in the radiant warmth and light of His divine kiln. The fire He has in mind feeds off the wind.

Baptism is the spark, the seed. Cooperation with grace nourishes the project. But Jesus does not stomp on our ashes or hack down our stalks. He does not grumble with impatience at our wilted, cold hearts. We must remember that the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is in the Christmas season. And during Christmas we remember the Child. This Child brings peace; this Child brings hope; this Child brings love; this Child is patient. He’s not looking to instill fear or guilt. On the contrary, He gives us His peace and takes away our guilt. “A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench.”

My Excuse:

A funeral, appointments-aplenty (including several walk-ins; gotta love those) and “Thank You” cards (still workin’ on 'em) completely dominated my Friday. I will try to get something up tomorrow. Thank you for your patience…and for your visit.

Burdensome Commandments?

In St. John’s Epistle for Mass today the beloved disciple tells us, “His commandments are not burdensome.” (1 John 5:3) Much of the culture would take issue with St. John on this point. “Commandments are a drag! I gotta be free from any rules, man! Stop harshin’ on my buzz!” [Apologies…] Nevertheless, the objector has a point. Don’t commandments limit freedom? Don’t they impede and restrict my happiness?

On my own authority I hereby proclaim some new commandments. You must obey them! Here we go, “I command you: keep breathing, or you’ll drop dead!” Another commandment, “I forbid you to play cards while sitting in the middle of the interstate!” Another, “No playing hop-scotch on a battlefield.” Another, “Do not leap off tall buildings!” One more, “Always look both ways when you cross the street.”

The objector might reply, “But these commandments are obvious, even absurd, Father.” Of course they are and so is, “Thou shall not commit adultery” and “Thou shall not steal” and “Honor thy father and thy mother.” Indeed, God’s commandments are even more obvious and more “absurd.” Yet how few follow them. How many ruin their own lives and the lives of their families by breaking God’s obvious commandments.

The commandments are God’s rules for happiness. They are like road signs. They are designed to keep us from harm. You’re not happy if you drive off a cliff. Further, if we obey The Great Commandment they’re even more unmistakable and not the least bit irksome. God’s commandments are a piece of cake if we follow The Great Commandment.

So they keep us from harm, but considering this Great Commandment to love, the self-interested weasel in me still asks, “What else is in it for me?” Jesus gives us the answer in the Gospel. If we love as He commands we will have His joy; that’s divine joy and our joy will be complete. Joy in the sense of happiness at the deepest level of the human heart. Not happiness in the sense that, “I’ve got, pizza, root beer and the Spartans are wining” but a happiness which endures far beyond pizza or entertainment.

“Love God…love neighbor…and do what you will.” That really works. That’s the true freedom of the children of God.

Scripture/Tolkien Hilarity On-Line

For anyone who has ever suffered through a "higher" course in Sacred Scripture (read: anyone who has ever been in the seminary or taken a mainstream university-level scripture course) or for anyone who has endured a zeitgeist-infected homilist deconstruct God’s Word and has read The Lord of the Rings, then this essay from Mark Shea will make you laugh out loud. For those who have stomached countless hours of “all historical-critical all the time,” Mark Shea's piece falls under the category of "drop everything and read it now!" Mark’s text appears in the January issue of Crisis Magazine.

The "Second" Commandment: Love One Another

This week in the daily Mass readings we are working our way through St. John’s First Epistle. St. John keeps hammering away at one theme that was close to the heart of the Redeemer: love one another. We need to tattoo this one on our foreheads. Jesus said, “This I command you: love one another.” Indeed this is the "Second" Commandment according to Our Lord Jesus Christ, intrinsically linked to The Great Commandment.

Our fundamental disposition when dealing with others must be: “How can I love the person in front of me?” It doesn’t matter if we like them or not, it doesn’t matter whether we perceive them to be important or not. I don’t care if it’s Governor Granholm, or President Bush, or Pope John Paul II; I don’t care if it’s the teenager working at McDonalds or the custodian or the homeless guy; it makes no difference whatsoever.

Each one made in the image and likeness of God must be treated with love…love…beyond respect, beyond tolerance, beyond acceptance. It doesn’t matter if I’m angry; I may have a right to be angry, we must treat each other with love. It doesn’t matter how the person makes me feel or whether or not their behavior is good. If our point of departure is not love, if our message does not spring from love, if our modus operandi is not love, then we may as well surrender the pretense of Christianity.

This selfless agape love shines like gold and is as hardy as old tree roots. This love must be tough. As Dostoyevski wrote in The Brothers Karamazov, “Real love is a harsh and a dreadful thing compared with the love we imagine in our dreams.” Or as Flannery O’Connor said, “Charity is hard and endures.”

Often love has to say, “No.” Many times real love must deny what someone else wants. The toddler might want to play with the shotgun but a good parent will say, “No.” A relative struggling with substance abuse might want you to pretend that nothing is wrong but real love will not deny the truth.

I often hear complaints about my parish. People say, “We should do this or that.” They exclaim, “If only we had X, Y or Z.” They grumble, “He’s the problem because…” or, “Do you know what she did?” The reality is that I’m the problem; I do not love as I should.

We will have no authentic renewal in the Catholic Church, no pastoral plan no matter how brilliant, no program, policy or idea will make any difference whatsoever unless we love and forgive one another from our hearts. Yelling, backbiting, gossiping, resenting, murmuring, griping, territoriality, pusillanimity, it all has to be replaced by love.

If we do not love one another we all may as well sleep-in on Sundays.

If we have no love we’d be better off watching TV or taking up basket weaving; without love we’re wasting our time.

Normally when a priest gets ordained, he has a sort of holy card made up for his ordination. It’s kind of like a priestly trading card. On the back of my holy card is a quote from St. Paul where he (and I) ask for prayers, and then this quote from St. Theresa of Avila:

The important thing is to love much…do then whatever most arouses you to love.