Live in Christ’s love

Why do we do what is right? What is it that is built into the human condition that forces us to ask the question: What should I do? Why should we obey the law? I ask myself this question when I’m on a desolate road at a stop light when I can see that no one is coming from the other way. I see that I have a red light and see that the non-existent cars all have a green light and I’m trapped waiting for this machine to recognize that it needs to change. And, I hate to admit it but there have been times when I have been tempted to run the red light with the theory that we are the most ridiculous of lemmings, the biggest of all blind followers, if we obey this piece of pointless traffic legislation. But I always talk myself out of it because I know the law and we need to obey the law. If we don’t, the alternative is lawless anarchy. We have visions of a crowded street fill with people pushing over cars, looting stores, and destroying property. And, of course, as we all know, the main reason we obey laws is because we fear being punished. Yesterday, I asked the first communion children why they obeyed what their mom and dad asked them to do and, at first they had nice answers about knowing that Jesus was watching and wanting to please mom and dad. But then, when I asked them if they obeyed because they were afraid to be punished, they all shook their heads. There was a time in the church when this was a big motivating factor in the church. The old act of contrition that I still hear at times in the confessional, used to say, “O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because I fear the loss of heaven and the pains of hell…” Fear of punishment is a great motivating factor for doing good and avoiding evil. But there is an even better one that we hear about in the gospel today.

“Jesus said to his disciples: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” I remember a time when I learned the real meaning of these words. I was in High School and I had just said something to my Mom that must have been just awful. I say that it must have been because I don’t honestly remember what I said or even why we were fighting. And I remember seeing my Mom start to cry and realizing that I never ever wanted to have to see my Mom cry again. I never ever wanted to be the cause of pain for my mom. I never ever wanted to wonder if my Mom still loved me or not. I mean, I’m sure she did but, at that time, I wasn’t sure and it would have killed me if she didn’t. The only way I could be sure that I didn’t ever hurt her like that again was to do whatever she told me to do and trust that she had my best interest at heart. I was fortunate enough that both my Father and Mother always did have my best interest at heart even if I didn’t always like to hear what they had to say.

This message of Jesus seems contrary to some of the statements of Paul which seem to throw out the law in deference to faith but, in truth, it’s a reminder that the locus of law is in love. Each commandment is to be followed because we love God enough to trust that he has our best interests at hearth. Love forces us to care more about other people than ourselves and our own comfort. Love was what moved the deacon Phillip to go from the safety and security of Jerusalem to evangelize to the Jew’s backwater cousins, the Samaritans, in the first reading. He could have been warm and well fed staying where the disciples appointed him, as a leader to the Greek speaking members of the church of Jerusalem. But, instead, he heeded the call of God to reach out in love to tell the Samaritans about Christ so that they, too, might be saved.

We, Christians, are called by Christ to live in that love, to make God’s love our own, to make God’s love our home. Our life is to be so filled with love that we are identified with it. The early Christian writer, Tertullian, quoted pagans who identified us with love and, as we are filled with the love of Christ who is filled with the love of his Father, we are called to be keepers of the commandments because of how much we love Christ who was first loved by God and then loved us. But, that doesn’t mean that we are to fulfill the commandments of the Old Testament. The one commandment that we must obey is the law of love; love God and love one another. Jesus tells us that he is sending another counselor, an expert in the law, to advise us on how this will play out specifically when he sends the Holy Sprit. The Holy Spirit will guide the church and her members so that we will never go astray. And so, we will continue this homily in two weeks during the feast of Pentecost.

Getting fooled again

A phenomenon that seems to always occur in the spring is that there is a week or two with early to mid summer weather and then it returns to the mild weather we should have. I mean, temperature variations are normal. But, invariably, people think we've rushed right into summer and star perpetually wearing shorts and flip flops. I tried to resist because I knew it was going to happen but then I did it. I put on shorts and started hoping that we'd stay in the seventies. Now it's 40 degrees outside. and tomorrow we may get rain and snow. to go along with the colder temperatures. Yikes. And we aren't going to return to 70s. We'll stay in the 60s for a while.

But, that's not all bad. We need to have spring before we have summer and spring was made for warm (not hot) days and cool (not cold) nights. And it gives me a chance to use the heater on my camper.

A message from bishop Tod Brown

I found a beautiful pastoral letter from a great shepherd here. I found this quote particularly compelling...

"Unlike Saint Mark, I do not foresee persecution for us on
the horizon, though these are not easy days for the Catholic
Church. Our commitment to Jesus is not being tested so much
as our commitment to him through a Church that has hurt others.
Let us not minimize the complaints of those who experience
the church as hurtful or lessen our commitment to seek forgiveness
and reconciliation with them. I encourage parishes to continue
to reach out with support groups and ministries such as
Coming Home, as well as the dedicated door-to-door efforts of
evangelization teams and apostolic groups. Each and every one
of us is responsible to be a minister of compassion and healing to
those individuals whom God places in our path, but particularly
those who feel hurt or betrayed by the Church. I want especially
to highlight the plight of those who were harmed by sexual misconduct
in the Church. I beg you to join me in opening your
hearts to their suffering and in praying for their healing.

If we heard anything from the Pope last week, it must be that we need to confront this head on before we can be seen as a moral force.

Did I call it or what!?!

Did you catch this?

On a previous post, I said that even the (so called) conservatives would find a way to take the beauty of the papal visit and make it bad. I even said that the issue they would focus on was pro-choice politicians receiving communion. Catholic World News (the Fox News of Catholic Web services) continues to criticize the Pope for not making sure John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi and Ted Kennedy didn't receive communion. I guess I should be glad that they also open up criticism to Rudy Giuliani on this one.

It's too bad that they seem insistent to follow the trend of criticism instead of focusing on what the Pope did accomplish. Because, if they do, they will be amazed and transformed.

Do not let your hearts be troubled!

When someone comes to visit, what tasks do you have to do to prepare for them? You probably go out and buy some extra food, make sure you clear out your schedule as much as possible to be able to have time to visit with the visitors, and clean those parts of the house that you otherwise neglect. You probably don’t go around your household and figure out what each member doesn’t like about the visitors so that you can ask them about it. Yet, that’s exactly what most news networks did prior to the Pope’s visit. NBC News and the Wall Street Journal took a poll where they asked Americans such questions as, “"In general, do you think the Roman Catholic Church is in touch with the views of Catholics in America today, or is it out of touch?" "Currently, Roman Catholic priests cannot get married. Do you favor or oppose that policy?" and "Do you approve or disapprove of the way the Catholic Church has handled the issue of sexual abuse of children by priests?" Other news outlets just invited dissident theologians and angry former catholics to come on and vent while they showed pictures of the pope in the background. To me, the message was two fold: a message to catholics reminding us that we don’t really agree with this old man and a message to the Pope reminding him that we don’t really want him to come here. Yet, even NBC news had to acknowledge a painful reality. When asked, “Do you have a favorable or unfavorable impression of Pope Benedict the 16th?" 74% of Catholics in the United States did and only 13% did not. We love our German Shepherd.

I was visiting with a student this week that was, similarly, frustrated with the way our news was treating the pope’s visit. The poor guy just kept saying that he couldn’t understand why this is the week we need to talk about sexual abuse, women priests, and married priests, and all the other controversial issues and I repeated to him the words of our Lord in the gospel this day, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” We both thought it was either incredible luck or just awe-inspired planning that brings the pope to this country at this point in the liturgical year. You may remember that last Sunday we heard about how Christ is the good shepherd who both guides and protects his church. He continues to do this in a special way through the apostles and their successors, the bishops. It is, therefore, only fitting that the successor to the Apostle of last week’s first and second reading, Peter, be visiting us.

This week we don’t hear a rousing speech from Peter letting us know that “God has made both Lord and Christ this Jesus whom you have crucified.” Instead, we hear about the first “growing pain” of the early church. As the church started to grow, there is a division in the church. There are Greek speaking Jews who believe in Christ and Jews who can speak Greek but whose primary language is Hebrew or Aramaic. In other words, this is not yet the controversy that will force Paul to be the apostle to the Gentiles while Peter is the apostle to the Jews. Both the Greeks and the Hebrews were Jewish before they came to faith in Christ. The controversy deals with the responsibilities of the Apostles. They are having to do the practical tasks of feeding the hungry so much that there is no time to spread the gospel. Basically, they realize they can’t do everything on their own. So, they ask the Greek speakers to choose seven servants, or deacons, to do the practical tasks so that they can just do the work of calling people to faith. It was a call to openness and sharing the gifts and talents God has given us, a call to be the dwelling place Christ is preparing for us. Let me explain what I mean by this.

In the gospel, after Jesus tells us not to be afraid, he tells us that he is preparing a place for us. It’s tempting to see in this a reference to some far-off place in the clouds where Jesus and his Father are working diligently on a mansion with many rooms for all the different religions. The Catholics will be close to the center, of course, with the Orthodox very close by. But, I’d like to suggest that this vision of a remote mansion is the exact opposite thing that Jesus is trying to convey to the church. The second reading makes clear that the mansion being prepared is not far off, not a real building at all. We are being built into a spiritual house, “Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God, and, like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house…” Jesus is building this by building his church. It is very close to us, as close as he is to us and he is to the Father. He is preparing a place for us by preparing us as his dwelling place. We, in turn, have to be open to God’s Extreme Makeover, Home Edition. How are we preparing a place for Christ so that he can prepare a place for us?

The conservative complaints of the papal visit

To hear what the liberals are complaining about as the Pope visits, turn on any news program (even Fixed News, as my friend Keith Olberman would say).

To understand what the conservatives are saying, read this article. I don't agree with most of it. In fact, I struggled to find something in it worth blogging but, then I read these couple of paragraphs and thought they are worth reflecting on...

Everyone knew the Pope's thought on this issue. But everyone also knew that prominent Catholic politicians like Senator John Kerry and Speaker Nancy Pelosi-- both ardent proponents of legal abortion-- would receive Communion at the papal Mass in Nationals Park today. Everyone knew, because the politicians announced their intentions in advance.

This is no small matter, because these politicians were not only creating scandal but also endangering their own souls. So how did the US hierarchy react? Were their warnings issued? Admonitions to avoid grave sin and scandal? I saw none. Only this quote from Sister Mary Ann Walsh, an official voice of the US bishops' conference: "People go to church and people go to Communion.."

I do think that, when politicians legislate actions that are gravely sinful, such as killing innocent babies, we need to make it clear to them that they have acted in a way that takes them out of communion with the church. But, what about politicians that supported President Bush's War in Iraq despite the warning of the Pope and the very Bishops that this writer has so little respect for in his article? And, who's to say that there wasn't a phone call or email or even a personal visit to a politician to tell them that they shouldn't receive communion. What if a bishop, believing it prudent to keep things quiet, tried to tell a Ted Kennedy or John Kerry that they can't be Catholic and pro-infanticide. He may think it works better than making public statements that only harden the hearts of politicians and give liberals even more reason to vilify our shepherds.

And, why does it always feel like resignation is the only penalty either liberals or conservatives believe is an adequate response to a bishop that doesn't do what they want him to do?

Let me pick on the University of Iowa one more time...

I got this from a friend....

NEW TORNADO POLICY for Iowa City, IA -

In case of possible tornadoes sweeping through the state of Iowa, we ask that all Iowa Citizans take shelter at the Kinnick football stadium. We are certain that there is no chance of a touchdown there.

Thanks for your cooperation.

The not-so-subtle message the network news are giving to catholics this week.

I keep seeing new reports about how 51% of American Catholics believe abortion should be legal and 42% of American Catholics believe gays should be able to get married. It's always in connection with the Pope's visit this week. Do you think they keep repeating it to remind us, "Remember, you catholics, you don't really like this guy. You don't agree with what he teaches?"

It always amazes them when they see us show up en masse with signs of support and love. It's like they want to remind us that we should show up with signs of protest because that makes for better news.

They'll never understand that, even if not all of us listen to him and follow him, we still love our German Shepherd.

One Wonders…

I’m a bit of a sci fi person. Heroes, all the Star Treks but Deep Space Nine, Star Wars and, as of late, Battlestar Galactica. On episode five of the third season, the humans have to deal with people that collaborated with the enemy Cylons. So, they come up with a system to do so. It made me think of the early church’s difficulty with the Roman Empire. There were times when we were less persecuted and times when we were more persecuted and during those time of more persecution, there were those that abandoned the faith. One of the first great controversies came when these people that abandoned the faith and burned incense to false gods. Tertullian, a brilliant church scholar, and others in North Africa didn’t want to forgive them. Baptism was your singular act of forgiveness and, if you forfeited that, you forfeited salvation.

It never occurred to me that the church may have really been dealing with more complex issues than people that burned incense to false gods. These could be people that collaborated with the Romans to turn over names of Christian martyrs. The real issue of forgiveness may have been forgiving people who contributed to the death of your wife or husband or child. And, quite remarkably, the majority of Christians felt it was necessary to show leniency and forgiveness.

Listen for the voice of the shepherd

Dearly Beloved in Christ

I’m getting really excited because we’re drawing closer to the time of year when a kid can be a kid again in Iowa. I’ve heard that this week it’s going to start getting to springtime weather. And thank goodness for that, right? We’ve been cooped up in our houses for far too long. Maybe we can finally go outside and not worry about hypothermia or snow drifts. Do you remember being a kid and playing those great games that you could only play when the weather got nice like hide and go seek, ghosts in the graveyard, and, my personal favorite, kick the can? And do you remember what would stop those nights of fun? For me it was the sound of my mother’s voice calling me home. And, I always knew it was my mom’s voice calling me home and not someone else’s voice. To this day, if I’m in a large crowd of people and my Mom or my Dad calls my name, I immediately stop whatever I’m doing and find out what they want. There is something powerful about the voice of someone that we trust when it calls us by name.

When I was in Israel, outside of the city of Jerusalem, there was a group of nomads called the Bedouin. They are well known in the Middle East because they don’t really acknowledge countries but take their sheep and roam to wherever they find grass and water. The Bedouin in Jerusalem would, very much like the shepherds at the time of Jesus, keep all their sheep in one place so that it was easier to guard and protect them from predators. They would, usually, have a three sided pen to protect the sheep while one member of the group would lay on the fourth side and act as a kind of human gate. I imagine it was a lot easier for several shepherds to be in the same place so that they wouldn’t have to always be the one guarding the sheep at night but could sleep in the reasonable protection of a tent instead. However, when it was time for one of them to find new pasture, they didn’t all move to the same place. Instead, the patriarch would walk out and call his sheep and the sheep that recognized his voice would come to him. The others who had other shepherds, would not recognize the voice of this shepherd and, thus, would stay in the pen. It sounds a lot easier to me than trying to figure out who owns a sheep by the brand on its hind end.

Jesus, in the gospel, equates himself with both gate and shepherd. He is the gate that protects us from those who would lead us astray and the shepherd who leads us to eternal life. Both of these images are exclusive; Jesus is THE gate that protects us and THE shepherd that leads us. This is why we, as Christians, are so diligent in evangelization: because we know of the exclusivity of the salvation in Christ and we know, further, that we need to share that salvation with others.

Yet, Jesus did not leave his flock untended after his death and resurrection. As we see in the first reading in the person of the Peter, he left us the apostles and their successors, the bishops, to continue leading the church as shepherds. We, here in the United States, are very excited to have the successor to the Apostle Peter, our Holy Father Pope Benedict, visiting us next weekend. Even if we cannot be with him, the grace that will come from a pastoral visit to our country will be felt throughout this great country of ours. But, thank goodness we have a local bishop that is with us, protecting us and leading us, in Archbishop Jerome Hanus, for whom we pray each week. And some of you may have heard that the Des Moines Diocese finally has a chief shepherd again when the Holy Father assigned Bishop Richard Pates. Bishop Pates was the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis before being appointed as bishop of Des Moines. He is a good man with a good vision for the church. We pray for him, this Good Shepherd Sunday, that he may continue the good work done in that diocese.

Ever since the priesthood scandal broke out, the blame among Catholics has shifted from priests to bishops. And, there is a part of me that is edified by that. I have always said and will continue to say that the one thing that gets me out of bed each morning is that Catholics want to love their priests, even those of us who sometimes do and say really stupid things. What I have found concerning, however, is that we don’t have the same respect for the bishops. These are the intelligentsia of the church, the ones with the best educations and the ones who are to protect us from harm and lead us to eternal life in Christ. There are incredible bishops out there with great wisdom and it will be to the detriment of ourselves and the church as a whole if we let the bad actions of men like Cardinal Law stop us from listening to great men like Archbishop Hanus, Bishop Pates, and Pope Benedict. So, I ask you to read an encyclical or get the diocesan newspaper, some of which can be found online, so that you may hear the voice of the good shepherd speaking the in the voices of our bishops.

The Pope on his namesake

I read, with excitement, that the Pope has decided to focus his attention on a saint that is influential to both of our lives, St. Benedict. The article on Zenit.org had this very intersting quote...

The Pope said that St. Benedict's decision to found an abbey at Monte Cassino was symbolically important because although the site was remote from nearby towns it was very visible on the mountain. The location sent a message, the Pope observed: "monastic life has its raison d'etre in withdrawal and concealment, but a monastery also has a public role in the life of the Church and of society."

The Pope made a similar argument in Spe Salvi, that monastic life is not a flight from the world but is still connected to it through work. We can see here the tension that we fill in this world between the "now" and "not yet" of eschatology coming through the Pope's comments.

Another one of Fr. Dennis' ultra catholic websites

Go to gloria.tv and watch a couple dozen videos. It'll make you happy to be Roman and Catholic.

Shell shock?

Okay, so I don't really have shell shock but this week has been weird. I know it doesn't show through in my posts on this blog. I mean, I had what I thought was a rather poor homily this weekend so I didn't want to publish it here. But, I've had two days of very little to do. And it looks like that's going to keep happening. I'm tempted to start celebrating surviving yet another school year but I'm terrified because there are still six weeks left! And, I've been consistently putting in long days for the last couple of months. I'm afraid I'm just in a weird week that will eventually end and I'll be running ragged again next week. I keep looking over my day planner to find out what's next. Yikes!

The good thing is that, for today, I'm relaxed.

One day a week to sleep in

As a priest, I get one day for sabbath rest. Like many priests, my day is Monday. I decided last night that I wasn't going to set the alarm because I have been exhausted. I slept until 11:30. Wow! We should all do that every once in a while. It's amazing how different...how better the world looks when you get enough sleep.

Did you hear about this?

Apparently, according to some idiots in Chicago, a bishop who met with President Bush and the governor of Illinois is culpable for Iraqi's having their religious experiences being ruined.

You can read about it here.

The Pope and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, of which Cardinal George is the leader, have decried the war from it's beginning. Now you know how people can blame Pope Pius XII for World War II.

A few thoughts about Reverend Wright

Let me state what this post is not: It is not an endorsement or detraction of Senator Barak Obama nor am I trying to justify the particular remarks of Reverend Wright. I haven't done enough research to know much more than the infamous "God damn America" statement.

But, part of my job as a minister is to challenge my people. This past Sunday I made the statement to the effect of, "Madmen from half a world away advocate murder to zealous followers simply because we are Christian." Yeah, yeah...I know. I varied from the text I published. That statement made people feel uncomfortable and one person even was uncomfortable enough to come up and complain. If I have to be worried that my message could be used against a political candidate or if every candidate has to avoid controversial political figures, it's just going to emphasize the idea people have that there needs to be a strict separation between church and state, as though society is better if politicians are uninfluenced by religion. Religion challenges us to live with transcendent ends in mind. And, religion should be an entity that humbles a country. No country is perfect and no one, not even Rush Limbaugh, can truly believe we are perfect. Christianity, in particular, needs to be reminded and remind others of slavery and racism. We need to remind people that all people should be treated with dignity and respect but not all actions are moral even if they are "natural." When politicians are only supposed to be exposed to "safe" messages about everybody getting along and everything is all right then religion has truly lost all meaning and we've managed to become the madmen of Nietzsche's myth ranting about the death of God who we have killed.

Easter Sunday: Spe Salvi part 3 In Hope we were saved

Dear Beloved in Christ

This past November, Pope Benedict XVI released his second encyclical entitled “Spe Salvi.” This encyclical, based on hope, has guided my reflections for much of lent and I was able to share some of the substance of that reflection (here) with the people of Sts. Peter and Paul in Gilbert during the Holy Thursday and Good Friday liturgies. I couldn’t help but notice a rather obvious connection with today’s readings and this much needed encyclical on hope. Both today’s gospel and first reading invite us into an encounter with the living Christ, the one who is truly risen from death, belief in God isn’t merely following a set of prescribed rules and procedures or memorizing a book but is closer to introducing ourselves and getting to know a person. Being without Christ and, therefore, without hope, is the biblical statement of being without God. So, as Christians, it is our responsibility to reach out to others in hope so that they may have an eternal reward. This is what gives our present meaning, after all; knowing that our future is certain as a positive reality. This is why the gospel is not just an intellectual exercise but something that should move our heart. Pope Benedict uses an expression to describe what this type of faith should involve. He says the gospel is “not only ‘informative’ but ‘performative.’ “That means: the gospel is not merely a communication of things that can be known – it is one that makes things happen and is life changing.”

The point the Pope is making is very significant. He is saying that, even though salvation was done solely through the activity of Jesus Christ on the cross, that salvation is dead if it does not move us from being informative to performative, from passive followers to active witnesses. It needs to affect us each day of our lives and the way this evangelical hope affects us is by assuring us of redemption in coming to know God through Christ and compelling us to reach out to others to help them come to know him as well.

To illustrate this point, I’d like to quote, in full, the Pope’s description of the life of someone who found hope in the midst of what was, otherwise, a horrific life.

“St. Josephine Bakhita was canonized by Pope John Paul II. She was born around 1869 in Darfur in Sudan. At the age of nine, she was kidnapped by slave-traders, beaten till she bled, and sold five times in the slave-markets of Sudan. Eventually she found herself working as a slave for the mother and the wife of a general, and there she was flogged every day till she bled; as a result of this she bore 144 scars throughout her life. Finally, in 1882, she was bought by an Italian merchant, who eventually returned to Italy. Here, after the terrifying “masters” who had owned her up to that point, Bakhita came to know a totally different kind of “master”—in Venetian dialect, which she was now learning, she used the name “paron” for the living God, the God of Jesus Christ. Up to that time she had known only masters who despised and maltreated her, or at best, considered her a useful slave. Now, however, she heard that there is a “paron” above all masters, the Lord of all lords, and that this Lord is good, goodness in person. She came to know that this Lord even knew her, that he had created her—that he actually loved her. She too was loved, and by none other than the supreme “Paron”, before whom all other masters are themselves no more than lowly servants. She was known and loved and she was awaited. What is more, this master had himself accepted the destiny of being flogged and now he was waiting for her “at the Father's right hand”. Now she had “hope” —no longer simply the modest hope of finding masters who would be less cruel, but the great hope: “I am definitively loved and whatever happens to me—I am awaited by this Love. And so my life is good.” Through the knowledge of this hope she was “redeemed”, no longer a slave, but a free child of God. She understood what Paul meant when he reminded the Ephesians that previously they were without hope and without God in the world—without hope because without God. Hence, when she was about to be taken back to Sudan, Bakhita refused; she did not wish to be separated again from her “Paron”. On 9 January 1890, she was baptized and confirmed and received her first Holy Communion from the hands of the Patriarch of Venice. On 8 December 1896, in Verona, she took her vows in the Congregation of the Canossian Sisters and from that time onwards…she made several journeys round Italy in order to promote the missions: the liberation that she had received through her encounter with the God of Jesus Christ, she felt she had to extend, it had to be handed on to others, to the greatest possible number of people. The hope born in her which had “redeemed” her she could not keep to herself; this hope had to reach many, to reach everybody.

Josephine Bakhita’s story is an excellent example of Christian hope. Christian hope is not based upon creating the city of God in our time, regardless of what some song silly says in our hymnal, we can’t build the city of God to turn our tears into dancing. This world still feels the effects of the sin of our first parents and the promises it offers to us are always illusory. Houses collapse. Gunmen wander into schools and residence halls and kill people. Madmen advocate death to zealous followers. On this Easter Sunday, we, Christians, feel hope in our encounter with Christ who, alone, can deliver us from the frustrations we feel in this world to the greatness of eternal life. And may this encounter that we feel most acutely at this mass lead us to go forth and spread the gospel of hope. Alleluia! Alleluia.

Good Friday: Spe Salvi part 2: We hope for life after death.

Dearly Beloved in Christ

Last night, we began this three day celebration with Holy Thursday, the mass of the Lord’s Supper. I used the homily at that mass as an opportunity to begin reflecting on the Pope’s latest encyclical on hope. Tonight, I continue reflecting on that encyclical in the light of our present celebration of Good Friday.

The title of this encyclical is “Spe Salvi”, which is taken from the first few words of the Latin original “Spe salvi facti sumus”, which is translated as “in hope we were saved." The particular quote comes from Paul’s letter to the Romans. The full quote in English is, “We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now; and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance.” The pope points out that redemption is always based upon hope, that the only way of living life to it’s fullest in the present is by having certainty of a goal that is worthy of the journey to receive it. One’s mind may go towards the book of JRR Tolkien called The Lord of the Rings. As Frodo is preparing to leave the safety of his home in the shire, he imagines that he will be forced to take the journey alone without the benefit of his friends Sam, Pippin, and Merry. Tolkien writes,

‘No! I could not!’ Frodo said to himself. ‘it is one thing to take my young friends walking over the Shire with me, until we are hungry and weary, and food and bed are sweet. To take them into exile, where hunger and weariness may have no cure, is quite another – even if they are willing to come. The inheritance is mine alone. I don’t think I ought even to take Sam.’ He looked at Sam Gamgee, and discovered that Sam was watching him.
‘Well, Sam!’ he said. ‘What about it? I am leaving the Shrire as soon as ever I can – in face I have made up my mind now not even to wait a day at crickhollow, if it can be helped.’
‘Very good, sir!’
‘You still mean to come with me?’
‘I do”
‘It is going to be very dangerous, Sam. It is already dangerous. Most likely neither of us will come back.’
‘If you don’t come back, sir, then I shan’t, that’s certain.’ Said Sam…I am going with you, if you climb to the moon and if any of those black riders try to stop you, they’ll have Sam Gamgee to reckon with, I said.”[1]

What is it that makes even the meek and mild among us able to carry out amazing acts of bravery such as being willing to follow a friend into death but belief in the importance of the final outcome? This type of belief is the substance of the hope on which Christians await their redemption. During this liturgy, we often focus on the cross and, while we must never seen in this cross anything less than an instrument of cruel torture and death, we must also keep in mind the hope that radiates from this cross of a man who, though sinless, was willing to give his life to wipe away our sins.

[1] Tolkien, J.R.R. The Fellowship of the Ring. Houghton-Miffling publishers Boston, MA. c.1987 from Book one Chapter 3: Three is company

Holy Thursday and Spe Salvi part one community

Dearly Beloved in Christ

We gather on this Holy Thursday evening to reflect on the meaning of communion, both the communion we receive each Sunday and the communion we feel when we gather as the body of Christ. This past Tuesday, the priests of this Archdiocese gathered with our Archbishop to celebrate this chrism mass, the mass where the holy oils are blessed which will be presented tonight when the gifts are brought forward. During his homily the pope used part of Pope Benedicts encyclical letter on hope that was released on November 30 of last year. I thought it would, therefore, be appropriate for us to spend our triduum reflecting on this encyclical and draw some life principles from it. One of the most surprising aspects of this encyclical is how applicable it is.

Tonight, our readings focus us on community and communion. The pope, in this encyclical, asks at one point if Christian hope is individualistic. We face this question, often, from our evangelical brothers and sisters when they ask us if we know that Christ is our personal Lord and savior. While the Pope doesn’t completely put aside the idea of personal salvation, he definitely reshapes the entire question. Using the theologian Henri de Lubac’s research into salvation, he points out that salvation has always been considered a “social” reality.” In other words, sin is what ordinarily drives us into a kind of personalism whereas redemption is the reestablishment of the person to unity with Christ and, thus, unity with the church. Think of the man whose sin is internet pornography. All through the day, the person is trying to be alone in order to indulge in the perversity of his sin. The frustration of his sin is when people do not allow him to have personal time to be alone.

So, in some ways, islation is the antithesis of salvation. So, how did we get things so turned around as to believe that holiness was something done in isolation whereas sin takes place in community? According to the Pope, this began with Francis Bacon who saw redemption as a restoration of the lost “paradise.” This restoration is done not in faith but a link between science and praxis. In other words, use of the scientific method. A student of Bacon believes that a solution is out there, it just hasn’t been found yet. We need experimental science to free us from all the world’s problems so that we can return to the redeemed state of Eden. This means that faith turns from the substance of hope into a faith in progress; things are getting better. I recently had a conversation with a student at Iowa State who was a student of Francis Bacon. He specifically asked about miracles and the substance of miracles. What if miracles are just unexplained answers to questions. In other words, what if, in the future, we find some kind of mud that actually cures diseases of the eyes when it is mixed with spittle. And, what if we find that this mud is only located in the Middle East around the Sea of Galilee. Even if we don’t find it in the future, who’s to say that it wasn’t present at the time of Christ. I had a certain sympathy for this kid because it seems like the logical step after a firm faith in the progress of science. The answer is out there, you just have to find it. There are two critical components to this view of progress; reason and freedom. The Pope says, “Reason and freedom seem to guarantee by themselves, by virtue of their intrinsic goodness, a new and perfect human community. The two key concepts of “reason” and “freedom”, however, were tacitly interpreted as being in conflict with the shackles of faith and of the Church as well as those of the political structures of the period.” In other words, you can either freely believe in reason or believe in the oppressive structures of the church.

Immanuel Kant changed the focus from a largely scientific atheism into a theological personalism by believing that the end result of this progress was the kingdom of God. Kant, therefore, pitted ecclesiastical faith (or the faith of the church) against a pure religious faith (a personal faith). Obviously, Kant saw that a pure religious faith is superior to the faith of church because it is personal and not encumbered with the communal. Kant even went so far as to intimate that Christianity could be so not worthy of love that God could reject it and allow for the brief reign of the Anti-Christ, a not so shrouded jab at the papacy.

At this point in the conversation, Pope Benedict advocates that, rather than make the mistake of Kant by pitting individual faith above the faith of the church, we need to have a dialogue. We need to help clarify what progress is: name that technological and scientific progress can be morally repugnant. To quote the document, “If technical progress is not matched by corresponding progress in man's ethical formation, in man's inner growth then it is not progress at all, but a threat for man and for the world.” We need to help clarify what reason and hope are. Reason is only reasonable if it is not based entirely upon our own experience. Reason needs to move past human experience in order to encompass all that is. And freedom needs to be understood less as my personal will and more in the convergence of wills. Still, this convergence cannot succeed unless it has a “common intrinsic criterion of measurement” as its foundation. In other words, freedom is in need of a moral compass for it to really free us.

Tomorrow, Good Friday, we will spend some time reflecting on what it is in particular that we are hoping in. And finally, on Easter Sunday, we will feel the hope of the resurrection in the person of an African slave.

Getting ready for one liturgy in three days

It's Triduum in the catholic church, a three day event in which we remember the giving over of the Lord's supper, the death of Christ, and the resurrection that sets us free.

The "traditional" way the Triduum begins is with the mass of blessing oils or the chrism mass. Most diocese are wise in moving this mass, including the Archbishop of Dubuque who celebrates this liturgy on Tuesday of this Holy Week. The Archbishop focused his homily on the Pope's latest document entitled "Spe Salvi". The focus of the document is on Christian hope and it gave me the inspiration to use it when I prepare my homilies for the next three days. So, prepare yourselves for homilies that incorporate the readings and are connected to Hope.

Please pray for the students at UNI

After the tragic events at Northern Illinois University, the University of Northern Iowa had it's own gun scare. I'm sure it feels odd locking down a building because a kid in 150 miles away sent threatening text messages. But, it's better safe than sorry and It had to ensure the safety of students. But, keep them in your prayers since there will, undoubtedly, be nay sayers.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080312/NEWS/80312027/1002/NEWS01

I long for the days...

This year, Iowa State University has decided to have spring break during Holy Week. I didn't know what it would mean for me but, basically, I haven't had a vacation since January and won't get one until May. And, unfortunately, all too often, I've had to "skip" my day off because of obligations.

I was licking my wounds on Tuesday, the day that I knew I would work solid for 12 hours, when I got a rather strange call. The pastor of the church in Madrid, Iowa (prounounced with the emphasis on the first syllable) asked me to take a funeral for him on Saturday. He's preaching at a funeral for a brother priest of his diocese. Without looking at my calendar, I immediately said, "Absolutely". Thankfully, I had nothing going on but I remember when my schedule was loose enough that I could make those commitments without worrying about it. Now, however, I would scarcely ever make an appointment without checking my calendar and the parish calendar. I wish I had flexibility in my schedule again. The good thing is that the semester is going to quickly come to an end and then I'll have some time to rest before wedding season picks up. I may even be able to go camping.

And then the stress will be gone...I long for those days.

A beautiful blog with great pictures and posts

In case you don't read the comments on my blog, you may not know about this wonderfully supportive blog from a woman who calls herself Easter A. It's worth visiting and spending some time reading and looking at what she has to write. And let's hope her son continues to feel the passion towards the church and priesthood when he's older that he does now.

http://atributetoourpriests.blogspot.com/

We are Lazarus

Dearly Beloved in Christ

As we draw closer to the great celebration of Triduum; Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday, you may notice that the readings are getting longer to prepare us for the reading of the passion, next week at Palm Sunday. Today’s rather lengthy reading leaves us with the question: Who in the heck in Lazarus? He’s not one of the twelve apostles. His conversion or calling to ministry is not mentioned anywhere in the scriptures. He doesn’t even live in one of the towns often associated with Jesus: Jerusalem, Nazareth, Bethlehem, or Capernaum. He lives two miles away from Jerusalem in a suburb called Bethany, just over the mount of Olives. The only other story that uses the name Lazarus is from the gospel of Luke used for a poor man who lay for years outside a stingy rich man’s house. That, however, is just that, a story. It’s a response to the Pharisees who are sneering at Jesus and his ability to teach authoritatively about the law. It’s possible that Jesus had this man whom he loved in mind as he was telling that story but, as I learned while researching this homily, Lazarus was a common name at the time. It is a shortened form of Eleazar, a name frequently used in the Old Testament, and it means “God Helps.” So, let us ask God to help us understand this man because he seems to come from nowhere and never be mentioned again.

Yet, a second look at the readings today may make us want to turn away from Lazarus and focus, instead, on the disciples. They very well could be the point of the story. They are the ones to whom Jesus thanked God that they could be with him when he awoke the man so that they may have faith. They would, likewise, have known the first reading from the Prophet Ezekiel that assured a previous generation of Israelites that they would know God when sealed graves were opened and when the dead rose. They should have been the first to trust that Jesus knew exactly what he was doing when he said he wanted to go to Jerusalem. But they let fear get in the way of their faith. They reminded Jesus that the Jews had just tried to kill him so it isn’t safe for him to return. But, Jesus knows that this lack of faith will be rewarded when they see the dead man, Lazarus rise. Even Doubting Thomas’s’ comment made in frustration, “Let us also go to die with him” cannot stop Jesus from doing what he needs to do.

But, I don’t think this really a story about the disciples. They fall into the background after Thomas’ comment and aren’t mentioned again. Maybe it’s a story about Martha and Mary, the dead man’s sisters. I imagine he expected Martha’s reaction. You may remember these two from the gospel of Luke. Martha, the hard working nagging older sister, and Mary the gentle, contemplative obedient disciple of Jesus who sat at his feet while Martha wished Jesus would make her help with the chores. When Martha approaches and says, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” he must have been excited to hear her add, “But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” There’s hope, in the midst of hopelessness. If Martha can evince faith in the midst of tragedy, then Mary, the contemplative, must likewise be ready for a miracle. So it must have been a real kick in the pants when Mary approached without any hope at all repeating her sister’s past-tense verse, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” and when Martha does want him to remove the stone in front of the cave because of the stench it becomes clear that, with these two, there is so much doubt, so little trust.

No, these two can’t be the real focus of the story, the ones on whom we are to fix our gaze. Perhaps Lazarus’ silence and lack of storyline isn’t meant to indicate unimportance in his role as disciple inasmuch as to invite us to see ourselves as Lazaruses. Lazarus died, just like we all will do. It is an inevitable consequence of living. And, sadly, we know that all of us will one day long to hear the very words Jesus says today, “Lazarus, come out!” (“other names, come out”) “Dennis, come out!” But, when Lazarus does come out, he is bound, both by the burial clothes and the knowledge that he will have to go through this again. He is still in what St. Paul calls the world of the flesh not the realm of the Spirit. Lazarus has to be freed from what binds him in order to live again. We, too, must look into our hearts and find what needs to be freed; jealousy, anger, lust, hatred, all those sins of the flesh that bind us in and to this world and we must be freed by God from them. We are coming to the end of this forty day retreat we call Lent so, I invite each of you to take advantage of the sacrament of reconciliation this week to walk free from what binds us so that we, Lazaruses, can hear Jesus say, “untie him and let him go.”

And I'm back

I've been busy with many things, to paraphrase scripture, and unable to be creative enough to post things for a few days. But, with a retreat, two presentations for 19 hours, and a vacationing pastor all done now, I find myself with the necessary rumination time to actually do this.

I start with a very interesting article found here in the Catholic World News. It reminds me that we need the renewal in the church and in the participation that Vatican II was supposed to be. We may, also, need to shrink a little and get a new generation of Catholics who would see the church with new eyes.

John Paul II used to compare the church to a set of lungs. He used this image to demonstrate why the division between Orthodox and Catholic is based for the One, Holy, catholic, Apostolic church. I think the other thing is that is useful about this image is the idea that, on occasion, the church needs to get smaller, or inhale, before we can exhale and grow.

Another reason to love Iowa State and know that University of Iowa just doesn't get it.

I'm doing research into the tragic events at Northern Illinois University for a presentation I'm doing next week. On it's website, NIU has listed condolences it has received from different colleges and universities regarding the event. See if you are struck by the differences between

the University of Iowa

and

Iowa State University

When I read Iowa's, it seems like the president isn't even offering condolences. It's not until the last sentence that she encourages people to focus on those who were killed. For the first three paragraphs, it's all about how the University of Iowa is facing a challenge. President Geoffroy, on the other hand, has a beautiful paragraph of condolence before he makes a statement regarding how everyone needs to be vigilant to protect students.

It's so great to be part of a University whose president models concern and service before worrying about themselves.

Most Reverend R. Walker Nickless

The lenten message of Bishop Nickless of the Sioux City diocese is really beautiful. One of my favorite passages is...

"To make that choice for grace, for God, over and over again, every moment, is difficult only because we are attached to things which are not God. We treat things which are not God as ends in themselves; in Saint Augustine's classic term, we 'enjoy' them for their own sake. But if we take seriously the life of Christ in us, such that 'it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me,' then the only end to be enjoyed for its own sake is God Himself. This is the Great Commandment, to 'love the Lord your God with your whole mind and heart and soul; and love your neighbor as yourself.'"

Lifting heavy burdens

I was really struck by today's gospel passage from daily mass. Especially this one

“The scribes and the Pharisees
have taken their seat on the chair of Moses.
Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you,
but do not follow their example.
For they preach but they do not practice.
They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry
and lay them on people’s shoulders,
but they will not lift a finger to move them.
All their works are performed to be seen.

The part about not laying heavy burdens on people's shoulders reminded me of how often bureaucracy does that very thing. The expectation is that committees make decision but, almost invariably, one person ends up doing almost all the work. I think it's a danger of parish life and we need to make sure that we not just keep making work for people that are already too busy.

Battlestar Galactica episode one

A friend got me addicted to the sci fi television show Battlestar Galactica. (Just to be clear, I'm talking about the next series, not the one from the 70's) and, since I'm supposed to be getting my taxes done but couldn't make it because of the weather, I decided to come home and watch an episode or two on a much needed day off.

I started from the beginning, from an episode that could easily define what it means to be frustrated. The (evil) cylons keep finding the (good guys) colonial fleet and attacking them every 33 minutes. For days, the fleet has to "jump" using to a new location in the hopes that they cylons won't follow. That's how I feel about the weather. Since Thanksgiving, basically, we have been on a five or six day cycle of snow, digging out, and incredibly cold weather. Each day, we seem to have two of those three things. We are either waiting for the storm, digging out for the storm, in the midst of the storm, or freezing. And, right once it looks like we are going to turn a corner, we hear that we will simply have more of the same. It looks like we are going to get above freezing and, when we do, it drops six inches of snow on us and gets freezing.

Where do we find the hope in this? The mundane can become overwhelming! As I read the Pope's latest encyclical, Spe Salvi, I hope to find an answer to that. As I prepare a talk for a group of parishes in northern Iowa, I ask for your prayers. Ask for the intercession of St. Thomas Aquinas that I may see through the mundane times of life to help those parishes find hope.

Opening ourselves to the mountaintop experiences

Most of you are probably unaware that, by law, a priest is given four weeks out of the year to be away from his parish. Three of the four weeks we are vacation, which is why you haven’t seen Fr. Ev for a while. He’s using up all three weeks of vacation in one shot and won’t be back until a week from this coming Friday. Priests need to be able to get away from the rat race of parish work in order to be the servant-leader God has called us to be. So we pray for Fr. Ev’s safety as he is on vacation and that I, your acting pastor, not screw things up too much while he’s gone.

A priest is also expected to spend one week of the year in retreat. I still remember visiting with the Archbishop before I came here to Ames and telling him that I had spent my last retreat alone in my camper praying over the Bread of Life discourse from John’s gospel. He sort of laughed until he realized I was serious. And then this very seriously look came over his face and he said that a young priest needs a directed retreat. From then on, I vowed to find a place where I could have a directed, silent retreat. The strange thing was how God did that for me.

When the campus ministers were planning out the events we were going to facilitate, one of my responsibilities was to take a group of students to a monastery in Northern Missouri called Conception Abbey. I had already taken my directed retreat with my good friend, Fr. Bob Hart in Hawaii, so I assumed this retreat would be more for the students than for me. But, in the course of that week, I found myself changed. Even though I’ve shared this from this pulpit before, I almost didn’t come back at all. I found a depth in my spirituality there that I had never experienced and certainly didn’t expect to experience while playing chaperone to a group of college students. I found quiet and peace and, in the process, found a new depth in my relationship to God.

That’s what I find so believable about this celebration of the transfiguration. Jesus takes his inner sanctum, the three leaders among the leaders, the apostles to the apostles if you will, off by himself on a mountain. I can just imagine Peter, James and John thinking all along the way that this is a waste of time. They could be going to any number of towns to heal their sick, feed their hungry, and preach about the kingdom of God but, instead, they are taking a Sabbath rest on a mountain. What a waste of time. Yet, in the midst of this waste of time, Jesus is transfigured, changed, into his glorified self and we see him with the two Old Testament figures that represent the Law and the Prophets, Moses and Elijah. It is the glorified image of Jesus not destroying the law and the prophets but fulfilling what they said. Peter’s first thought is that he needs to do something, he needs to build them a tent and preserve this glorified experience. But, just like David in the second book of Samuel was refused to build a temple for God, so Jesus forbids Peter from doing building them a structure. Peter had to come to understand what Paul would later articulate to Timothy, “He saved us and called us to a holy life, not according to our works but according to his own design…” Peter, James and John weren’t earning this vision of heavenly glory. They were given it freely by Christ whose cross would alone earn it for them.

Sometimes, I worry that we give the false impression here at St. Thomas Aquinas that you need to earn your salvation through good works. We have numerous social justice activities for both resident and student parishioners and we spend a lot of time talking about doing service projects. I get concerned that people believe that Christ’s victory over salvation is insufficient, that we need to earn the forgiveness of our sins and glorified life offered to us in Christ instead of seeing it freely given to us. Yet, even the most socially just, most good work oriented philanthropist cannot be saved without knowing Christ, without being invited on the mountain to see Christ’s transfigured glory. We work because God has called us to live a life of love. However, this Sunday we are reminded that, just as important as a life of service is a life of prayer. We all need to take time each day to be drawn away from worldly concerns to be caught up with Christ on the mountain. Maybe we can’t find a monastery to do that and there will, undoubtedly, be experiences on retreats that will especially fulfill that need each of us feels. Yet, each day, we need to experience the God that makes us fall prostrate and reveals to us the identity of his son.

Overcoming fear

The crazy thing about fear is that it's often based on exaggeration. We make our fears even more serious than they ever need to be.

I was afraid of celebrating mass in Latin. I took some Latin in school and did alright with the language. I studied classical latin and sang church latin. I learned how to think it with Nero and learned how to pronounce it with Thomas. A group of students wanted to have a Vatican II mass in Latin. They had been learning the mass parts chanted in Latin and wanted to use what they learned. I was leery because I'm not the best "pronouncer" ever. But, I wanted to give it a shot.

Thankfully, I didn't let my fear get in the way. We celebrated it this afternoon and, to a group of young people who never experienced what some call the horrors of the pre-Vatican II liturgy, they spoke the parts in Latin that they have only said in English for years. It was awesome. I was terrified a few times because I'm sure I mangled the Latin and need to practice more but it was just nice to say "Dominus Vobiscum" and hear a resounding "Et cum spiritum tuo."

I think, if we do it again, we'd have to give them a crash course on some of the stuff that we take for granted. Like, Pax tibi instead of peace be with you for the kiss of peace. But, there was no question we were praying, even if part of the prayer was me saying, "God help me say this and understand it even if I don't say it exactly correct."

A short and good message from Alaska

Bishop Donald Kettler of the diocese of Fairbanks has a great lenten message with some great simple suggestions. You can read it here.

Fasting from our disobedience

As I listened to today’s first readings, at first I was tempted to ask: What is it about that darn apple that makes Eve and Adam want it so badly? In other words, why eat from the tree of knowledge when there are so many other trees to eat from. What was wrong with the pear tree or the grapevine that day? Were our first parents just tired of them after eating the same thing every day. But, I don’t think this story is about the diet of our original parents. It’s about their original sin. It’s about cowardice and selfishness in its purest form. It’s about disobedience.
And yet, we may see in this story a kind of relief as well. I mean, the one who is truly at fault is God in all of this. While he gave them a simple rule, he never explained to them why. Despite creating them in the image and likeness of himself, God expected that they not eat from that one tree. I mean, come on. Let’s face it. When we are told not to do something, isn’t that the first thing we want to do. When dad bakes a dozen cookies and leaves them out to cool, if he just says that we shouldn’t eat them and then leaves, how many will be left when he comes back? Ten? Eight? Two? But if dad tells us that he baked them for the church’s bake sale, we might be more cautious about eating them. Now we understand why we shouldn’t eat them. That was, basically, what God didn’t tell Adam Eve. He made them free, giving them the freedom to choose everything but then told them not to do this one thing and then he left. So, the real one at fault is not poor Eve who gets tricked by the erpent. Not poor stupid Adam who seems to do whatever Eve tells him to do. God is at fault for this. If he made them free, he needs to at least tell them why they aren’t allowed to eat from that tree.
And yet, maybe they just weren’t ready to understand the why. Maybe they should have been more satisfied with knowing what the rule was instead of needing to know why the rule existed. Maybe their minds just weren’t ready to understand what it meant to live in a state of original innocence. Contemporary theologians don’t even understand what this life would be like. Just try to imagine living in a world without sin, a world where the mere concept of disobedience has never been invented. It’s easier for us to imagine a world without cars or a world without knowing about the America’s. And even if we think we can understand the concept of the innocent life of our first parents, we’ll never be able to experience it, to live it. How could these hunter/gatherers ever understand that, by keeping them from that tree, he wasn’t depriving them of equality with himself, he was feeing them from the worries and uncertainties of living antagonistically towards himself.
And still, “The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” They built up the wall of separation between God and humanity and began pushing us farther and farther away from our original creation in innocence when God walked with us. We were alone and lonely. And that, in part, was why God needed to send his Son to be our savior. Just as human beings moved us away from God so a Godly human could be the only one to move us back. Jesus, in the gospel, fully enters into the human experience of loneliness by entering into the desert and fasting for 40 days. And, in one of the most understated lines of scripture, after Jesus comes out of the desert, he was hungry. His loneliness and emptiness is, then, tested by the devil. He asks him three questions in which Jesus is encouraged to use his power to take control. At one point, the devil even quotes sacred scripture in an attempt to trip up the Lord, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you and with their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.” None of this fools our Lord who keeps his eyes focused on his heavenly father, in the good and the bad, through temptation and suffering, all is “thy will be done”. Thy will be done!
We are in this desert of Lent for forty days and forty nights with our Lord. One of the more difficult things to understand is fasting, the kind of fasting Christ was able to do and understand that our first parents were not able to do. It is, in fact, one of the defining characteristics of Lent, fasting. There can be a loneliness that goes along with it. If you are fasting from meat while all of your coworkers order a sausage pizza on Friday, you know what I mean. Or, on days like Ash Wednesday and Good Friday where our church asks us to fast by only eating one regular sized meal and two small meals that wouldn’t equal the larger one, we may miss the community associated with dinner-time. I believe this loneliness, caused by the sin of our first parents, is often what causes us to give in to temptation and break our fast early. Yet, our Lord gives us the true spiritual value of fasting: that not even basic needs like nutrition, hydration, and oxygenation are more important than God. In God alone is our soul at rest. Our help comes from him.

catharsis

After what was (arguably) the worst week I've had as a priest, I looked down at the dead body of my friend in a casket and found peace. I've never lost a friend as close as Fr. Bob and it really turned my life upside down for a week or more. I was angry, not at God or the church or doctors, more at circumstances. I was angry that I didn't get to visit him when he was in the hospital. I was angry that Bob died in the first place.

But I had to set that aside when I got to say goodbye. Fr. Bob's classmate, Fr. Dave Schatz, did one of the best priest funeral homilies I've heard. And it helped a lot to have a visit with my spiritual director right after the funeral.

Fr. Bob never looked at me or treated me like I was some know nothing plebe barely able to know how to use the big boy potty. He treated me like a brother, a friend. We'd joke about the difference in ages but, ultimately, there was no arrogance, no snobbishness. There was nothing but respect and I will always respect him for that.

Reactions to Protestants and Orthodox

I'm from Iowa and I like to think of myself as a prototypical Iowan. I love my state. And, to quote the music man, "...We're so by (gosh) stubborn we could stand touchin' noses for a week at a time and never see eye to eye...but we'll give you our shirt and our back to go with it if your crops should happen to die." Yep. That's me. I'm definitely at least partially the a product of the environment in which I have been raised.

I think that's why I have a tremendously different reaction to Protestants than I do the Orthodox. Most of the time, when Protestants criticize the church, it raises my hackles. I immediately want to defend the church from attack. I immediately think that there can be no truth to their accusations. I'm sure it comes down to personal bias since I've been attacked by Protestants ever since I left Catholic grade school. The crusades were taught to me in Middle School as the corrupt Roman Catholic Church trying to take over the lands of some peaceful Arab shepherds who rose up against the evil Roman Church despite overwhelming odds against them. Of course, none of that is really true but my EXTREMELY biased teacher never took the time to get into the complexities of history because that would be a violation of church/state separation. From there, I was told by evangelical protestants that I'm not a real Christian, that the church eats babies, that priests and nuns have sex and eat those babies at the eucharist, that catholic priests are either all gay or all pedophiles, that catholics blindly follow whatever the pope says...and on and on. Lies, all of them. Thankfully, I've also met some very friendly Lutherans and Methodists along the way that have helped repair some of the damage but my instinct, sadly, is always and likely will always be DEFEND THE POPE! Fight the Protestant!

The other day, however, I heard an Orthodox priest criticizing the Roman Catholic decision from two years ago to move the Annunciation because it fell on Good Friday. I listened patiently and thought, "You know, maybe he's right. Maybe we shouldn't have done that." A reaction which tends to be pretty typical when I hear a member of one of the Orthodox Churches criticizing Roman Catholicism. Why would I have such a different reaction to them? As I said at the beginning, I wonder if it's because I'm from Iowa where a member of the orthodox is about as rare of a species as you can get. Or if it's because I tend to view the Orthodox as actually caring about continuity. History is important. They are in this world but not of it. Orthodox priests still wear these beautiful garments and seek to stand out from a crowd by what they wear. Most Catholic priests have spent the last twenty years trying to figure out if they can look more like their protestant counterparts and get away with it. We wear suits all the time and mock priests that make the decision to wear cassocks, the clerical shirt is something you wear for more formal events otherwise you should wear "business casual", and the key is to get people to call you by your first name no longer "Father". Orthodox lay people even have a sense of distinction. They love their liturgy and their traditions...both of which go back hundreds of years if not longer.

Ultimately I think what plagues me is that I know that Christ wants us to be united, to be one as he is one with the Father and Holy Spirit. But I see us continually growing farther and farther away from the Protestants in such things as married clergy, women clergy, gay and lesbian clergy, true presence, etc. The Orthodox, despite being separated from them for 1200 years, are not going to give in to culture like many protestant groups have done. I just hope that my vision isn't clouded simply because I don't live in Greece or the Ukraine.

Entering into Lent

As you can probably tell by my last post, these last couple of weeks have been really tough for me. I don't want to go into specifics about everything but one important piece is that my friend passed away. Fr. Bob Davies, a good and faithful priest of the Archdiocese of Dubuque and my friend passed away on the day of the Lord's resurrection, last Sunday. Bob helped me in my frist year of seminary by forcing me out of my room, away from my books, and toward books stores. He was one of three guys that I drew on when studies became wearisome and I started to feel overwhelmed, I could always count on Bob Davies to talk it out.

And, we both had a subscription to the Guthrie Theater in the Twin Cities and would travel up to see plays four or five times a year. At first, our brother Fr. Andrew Lawrence, would with us. But then he went full-time active duty as a military chaplain so that meant that Fr. Bob and I would go together. The good thing was that Fr. Bob always kept the conversation going.

I miss him a lot already and know that his funeral on Friday will be quite difficult. Please pray for the repose of his soul and pray for me too.

a few late night reflections

I've been praying a lot about this parable recently. It's not one of Jesus' parables but, I believe, it's a preparation for it. In case you don't know about the story of David and Bathsheba from 2 Samuel 11, David basically stole another man's wife, got her pregnant, and then killed him by sending him to war. It's a little more involved than that but that will get you by. When Nathan, the prophet, is appointed to tell David that he knows what he did, Nathan uses this parable to trap David into convicting himself....

12:1 The LORD sent Nathan to David, and when he came to him, he said: "Judge this case for me! In a certain town there were two men, one rich, the other poor. 2 The rich man had flocks and herds in great numbers. 3 But the poor man had nothing at all except one little ewe lamb that he had bought. He nourished her, and she grew up with him and his children. She shared the little food he had and drank from his cup and slept in his bosom. She was like a daughter to him. 4 Now, the rich man received a visitor, but he would not take from his own flocks and herds to prepare a meal for the wayfarer who had come to him. Instead he took the poor man's ewe lamb and made a meal of it for his visitor." 5 David grew very angry with that man and said to Nathan: "As the LORD lives, the man who has done this merits death! 6 He shall restore the ewe lamb fourfold because he has done this and has had no pity." 7 Then Nathan said to David: "You are the man!"

I've been thinking about it for several reasons, but especially how often the (so called) liberals in the church proclaim that they want to get rid of the "power of the priesthood". They seek "collaboration". They want to have a "conversation" and encourage "dialogue" And then, when they get that collaboration, they are the biggest tyrants of all. They not only get to rule their own houses but they want to rule of the house of God, turning theology and ministry into something that everyone but the priest can do. They seek to take the service that the priest offers and turn it into power they can wield over people. And it's most frustrating that they claim they demand conversation and dialogue while they themselves often make unilateral decisions.

Priests in this generation

The role priests play for the church is incredibly dynamic and one that I'm constantly trying to figure out. In the early church, the presbyterate was probably a group of intelligentsia advising the bishop to ensure that the church did not get off track. It's my understanding that the bishop would not have initially been chosen from among the priests but among the deacons. I have always assumed that meant that the priests were supposed to stay in the background while the bishop put his life on the line making as close to public statements as an illegal organization can make.

Of course, when the church expanded, it became clear that priests were needed to be more than advisers to the bishop. They needed to be shepherds to small parts of the larger area the bishop led. The bishop turned into a rarely seen (though often prayed for) overseer while the priest was to be on the seen, directly involved.

What I find ironic is that parishes are somewhat being set up in this same pattern in the US. Priests are often "in charge" of large staffs who are to be in more direct contact with the people. They buffer the pastor in some ways who is seen as too busy to meet with people. Other than Sunday liturgy, the pastor is not really expected to come to most meetings or being free to talk with someone who walks in off the street. And, with the number of priests decreasing at a higher rate than the number of parishes, it could be that a "lay leader of prayer" is present at almost every Sunday Celebration (in the absence of a priest) while the priest bounces between as many as ten or twelve different parishes over the course of a month.

Some have said that this means we need to change priesthood to better fit current circumstances. I tend, instead, to think that we may need to ask, from a theological point of view, what do priests need to be for their people. Should the priest merely be an empowerer of other staff members, an overseer like the bishop ended up becoming or does the priest need to be more "in charge"? Is there a point when a diocese should feel justified in telling a parish that they cannot staff them with a priest and so they cannot remain open? If so, what characteristics define when that needs to take place? Is there any precedence for normalizing regular Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest? What effect does that have on a community?

I raise these questions without answers because I feel like they are bigger than my opinions allow for. They deserve some serious reflection, though.

whoever does the will of my heavenly father

The gospel for today is taken from the gospel of Mark 3:31-35. Catholics often have to defend the charge that this directly points to Jesus "brothers and sisters", thus the perpetual virginity of Mary can't be true since Jesus had brothers and sisters. Over and over again, catholic scholars have pointed out the fluidity of those terms, the tradition that these are actually Jesus' cousins, and (my own personal belief) that these were likely children by Joseph's former marriages. Of course, both sides miss the larger point that this is supposed to be the beginning of people abandoning Jesus, even the 12, at his crucifixion.

What I find fascinating is that Catholics have not pointed out something else that should put Protestants on the defense. Jesus says that in order to be his mother, brother, and sister, we must "DO the will of God". This is an active verb. It's far from the sola fides of Luther. This is much closer to the notion of James, "Show me your faith and I'll show you my works."

Please keep in your prayers...

A good priest friend is battling for his life even as I type these words. Fr. Bob Davies was found Friday in his rectory unconscious. They transported him to two different hospitals and the doctors at the second one which are used to dealing with more critical cases believe it isn't quite the simple diabetic coma he had about a year ago. It seems as though Fr. Bob had a stroke that sent him into this. I haven't heard anything for about a day so please keep this good priest in your prayers.

Feast Day

I've had a strange couple of days. On Thursday, I had a funeral at the funeral home. On Friday, I had a wedding rehearsal in Marshalltown, Iowa and Saturday we had the wedding. Thankfully, our deacon agreed to take the homily for the weekend and he did a great job. He talked about being called in the context of St. Thomas Aquinas. If you've never heard it, St. Thomas was originally supposed to be a Benedictine because (ironically) it was considered more prestigious than the order he ended up joining, the Dominicans. But, he went with where he felt God called him. Deacon Paul then invited people to reflect on their own call. What is the call you feel God is given you.

update

Here in Iowa, we are having our first typical Iowa winter in years. That might be an exaggeration but we haven't been above freezing in weeks and we've consistently had snow on the ground since Thanksgiving. We probably should have seen it coming since most forecasters predicted that this would be a mild winter with very little snow but it has basically been snowing for the last three days straight and it looks as though we will get a break tomorrow and then another storm moves in for Friday.

On the one hand, it should mean that students are spending a good amount of time studying but I'm finding that it's hard to concentrate since you really can't even go outside. Tonight it's supposed to be -9 with -20 wind chills. I suppose we are all preparing for Lent in this time and getting ready to give things up, even the freedom to be able to move and be outside. I'll use the time to pray for those who have no shelter from this terrible weather.

I wonder if Texas needs priests...

John the baptist and my first case of swearing in a homily

I was telling a story about a student who I thought was trying to know more about priests in general but who was, instead, trying to figure out if I was straight or gay. When I discovered it, I wanted to say to the kid, "That's none of your business" and that's what I had intended on saying in my homily on Sunday but, instead, I said, "That's none of your DAMN business."

That was enough to throw of the rest of my homily. I meant to talk about how John the Baptist's life led people to think he was weird but that allowed him to have a sense of perspective to talk from both outside and inside, as both a Jew and someone who was more than just a normal Jew, more holy than most of the Jews of his time. I intended on talking about how priesthood is partly about giving order to the holy, holy orders. And why priesthood is so important today and needs to be something we talk about with our kids. Unfortunately, I was so thrown off that I sort of muttered something about how priesthood is important and tapped danced around priesthood not being a sad or lonely life. All in all, it was not my best celbration of the eucharist.

An atypical feminism conversation

I sat in out student lounge yesterday talking to three women who are students at Iowa State about a topic that you wouldn't necessarily expect: why women should be proud to be Catholic.

It all started when I noticed three women students sitting in the student lounge. I went over to say hello and one them asked if I knew anything about Edith Stein/Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. I told her I didn't and she said she thought we should get a group of people together to study her life and writings. She said that there are several people at "the University" (a term that I've learned is what you say when you don't particularly like something about Iowa State) who say the church is anti-woman and we have no response. I agreed and said that we should study the great women saints throughout history, like Felicity and Perpetua, all the Theresas, and others. I also couldn't think of the woman who convinced the Pope to move the papacy back from Avignon, France to Rome and one of them knew it was Catherine of Sienna. One of my favorite statements came from a woman who said she sat next to a male sociologist on a plane ride and the man couldn't understand how a woman could be involved in the church. Her response was that she feels like the church is the only entity that gets her. The church tells her she has dignity and that she is called by name and a child of God and that she is different from man but not less important. I was proud that one of my students would know that the church isn't the evil women oppressing agent that we are often alleged to be. She felt the call of Christ who loved women differently but equally to men.

Also read one of my student's blog

One of my students whose really become a good friend is named Steve Sanda. Steve is in Rome this semester and here's his link. Go check out what he has because he will have a ton of pictures of really cool things.

http://sandainroma.blogspot.com/

Baptism of the Lord

Dearly Beloved in Christ

There’s a song made popular by a woman named Shari Lewis along with her friend, lamb chop, that goes “This is the song that doesn’t end, yes it goes on and on my friend. Some people started singing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue singing it forever just because...This is the song that doesn’t end, yes it goes on and on my friend. Some people started singing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue singing it forever just because...” and, by now, that’s sort of how I feel about the Christmas season in the church. I start to feel like I’m singing the song that doesn’t end. Stores have long ago put their discounted ornaments and villages in the back of their storage areas for next year, our left over wrapping paper and tags are put away in some closet, and our Christmas tree is probably sitting in some recycling area along with a million others. The church is the only entity that still believes the Christmas Season isn’t done and, by the looks of our tree, we are even starting to feel a little bit dry. But there’s one more thing that deserves reflection before we move onto the Ordinary Time.

Today we celebrate the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which doesn’t seem to have much to do with the season of Christmas from outset. I mean, there’s a contemporary connection with babies and baptism. Most of the baptisms we do are for infants, which is partly why our baptismal font has that rectangular raised part along the side, so that we can immerse the babies just like we do adults. (In fact, here shortly, Fr. Ev will show you what that means and I invite all of you, during the baptism, to leave your pews and come closer to see what happens during that ceremony.) But, Jesus wasn’t a baby when he was baptized, he was probably somewhere in his late twenties or early thirties when it happened. And, unlike almost every baptism that I have when I immerse a baby in the font, the first noise that is heard after baptism isn’t the noise of a baby screaming, it’s a voice that seems to continue the Epiphany of last week, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

There’s a very interesting interaction that happens before the baptism that is, I believe, the heart of why this is a fitting conclusion to the Christmas Season. One of the seeming contradictions that the early church had to deal with was that it maintained the Jesus was born without sin and never committed sin during his life. They would say Jesus was “One like us in all things but sin.” But, it was also well known that Jesus ministry began after he had been baptized by John in the Jordan, a baptism that was known to be for the forgiveness of sin. So why would someone who was without sin need a baptism that was for the forgiveness of sin? According to the gospel, it was “to fulfill all righteousness.” In other words, Jesus didn’t come as a mere observer of the human condition, he came to be fully human. To use slightly crass language, Jesus didn’t come to be a wall flower, he came to dance.

This is important for several reasons, not the least of which is that, by becoming human and fully entering into our life, he transformed our potential so that we may enter into his life. In a sense, by God becoming human, he showed us humans a glimpse of what it means to be God. The first reading described this as God's justice. The second as God's impartiality. The Eastern Orthodox have the term deification, literally that by entering into the church we become like God. This isn’t meant in a sacrilegious way in that we can somehow have the power of God or the wisdom and understanding of God. That’s the sin of our first parents. Adam and Eve sought to be gods. As Christians, we need something to remove all our human imperfections, all things that stop us from loving God and loving neighbor, in order to become like God. Christmas would have been meaningless for us had God not shown us how we participate in it, which is what baptism is supposed to be. Just as the Eucharist is our entrance into the eternal life offered at Easter, so Baptism is our entrance into the divinity of Christ, our ability to know and appreciate that the tiny infant none of us got to see in the manger, is truly God-with-us, prince of peace. This is the salvation that cannot end. God with us so that we can be with God.

universal not unitarian

I wonder if the new heresy will be a confusion of the idea of "catholic". Some people think that it means the church is open to all new movements, that we don't close ourselves off to things. Yet, throughout the history of the church, this is a common theme. From Basil and Tertulian battling early heresies to Gregory the Great's attempt to unite the church under himself, to St. Thomas Aquinas infamous "you have heard it said...but I say" style of Socratic method, the church has had to distance herself from incorrect ideas in order to cleave more closely to Christ.

The Unitarian community in this country will take anyone regardless of what they believe. We are universal, not because you can believe whatever you want or because the church should be open to everything but because we need to communicate Christ to all the world.

The pope on the family

The Pope's Holy Family Angelus address is great. You can find it here and my favorite quote is...

"For this, parents have the right and fundamental obligation to educate their children, in the faith and in the values that dignify human existence. It is worth it to work for the family and marriage because it is worth it to work for the human being, the most valuable being created by God.

I direct myself in a special way to the children, so that they love and pray for their parents and brothers and sisters; to the young people, so that stimulated by the love of their parents, they follow with generosity their own vocation to marriage, the priesthood or religious life; to the elderly and the sick, so that they find the help and understanding they need. And to you, beloved spouses, count on the grace of God always, so that your love will be always more and more fruitful and faithful."

The Nativity Story

I decided that, since today is the end of the Octave of Christmas, I would watch the movie with the above title and I have to admit it's not bad. I had a few problems with it but nothing huge. The filmakers had to fill in some of the details of Mary and Joseph's pre-scripture life and they did so the best they could. I even feel like they left open the possibility for Mary's perpetual virginity. I especially loved how they wove traditional Christmas carols into the score. Most of the time people probably didn't even know they were there. It's tough to blend Matthew and Luke's infancy narrative because there does appear to be contradictions. But, they did a good job of trying to present an understandable story with some drama.

The astrologer/wise men were really good. The growth in the relationship between Mary and Joseph was strong, although I would have preferred an older Joseph. And I still think that Joseph had children by a previous marriage but I will only know that for sure when we meet in heaven. I just think it's really interesting to see how Protestants view Mary because the movie is basically all about her and Joseph. What a perfect way to finish off the octave and celebrate the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.

Mary, Mother of God and mother of the church

I love preaching about Mary mother of the church on this day that we devote to Mary's oldest title: theotokos in Greek, Mater Dei in Latin, Mother of God in English. I know it's still being worked out theologically but I always like to think that Mary's yes is our yes, her willingness to give birth to the Son of God is the first of us to say yes to God. She may not have given birth to all of us but she gave birth to our faith to the extent that she gave birth to Christ. And, even though she is just like a good Jewish mother who always wants to put her son before herself, this does not diminish her important contribution.

...and a happy new year

What a wild week the octave of Christmas is. We just get done with Christmas and quickly move on to the Sunday between and then we conclude with Mary, Mother of God/New Years. I get a few days off after all that gets done and before my students come back. I don't know why it surprises me each year but I'm already ready for the students to come back. It's just too quiet. I even spent time rearranging the student lounge because I was bored. I have work to do it's just hard to get motivated when no one's around. I NEED to get it done, however, so that I can spend time with the students when they get back or at least not be too behind the eight ball.

Here's wishing you all a happy New Year. Make a resolution but not too many, one accomplishable goal. I'm going to try to volunteer at an animal shelter.

How the family makes us holy

When we think of family in today’s society, what are some images that come to mind? If you are of a certain generation, you might think of Archie, Edith, Gloria, and Meathead from the television show “All in the Family”. Archie is the typical 1950’s urban racist with his diminutive wife, Edith, and daughter, Gloria, who dared to marry the open-minded, anti-authoritarian Michael, nicknamed “meathead” by his father-in-law, Archie because of his left-wing political stances. This image seems to permeate the meaning of 1950’s America and is used, by some, to show the weakness of the nuclear family in a time in which the nuclear family was supposed to be at it’s strongest. Today, if you look at the media’s portrayal of family life, you can see that this portrayal perdures. Many television shows portray an overbearing father who pushes his wife around making ridiculous decisions for his entire family that seem to only benefit himself.

On this Sunday the church invites us to reflect on the nature of the family through the lens of the Holy Family. This Sunday is situated in the midst of the octave of Christmas, an eight-day celebration that begins at Christmas and ends with the celebration of Mary, the Mother of God on January first. This octave is partially a reminder that Christmas can’t be a one-shot deal. Christmas is too important to last one day. I’m always thankful that we do this after, not before December 25th. It’s as though our church is saying that while the commercial version of Christmas begins after Thanksgiving and ends on Christmas day, we wait until the fervor of consumerism has died away in order to spend eight days reflecting on the spiritual meaning of Christmas. The octave also allows us to reflect on different aspects of that fateful night when God became one-with-us in order to save us. Today, we discover that Christ came as part of a family in order to give us an example of a Holy Family. I found it fascinating that the first two readings focus on the entire family but the gospel shifts to offer some time to reflect on the one person that can get short shrift during the Christmas season, Joseph. But there is something that connects all three readings and it is, I believe, the reason the church has us reflect on these three passages in particular. Each, in its own unique way, portrays an essential obligation of marriage.

The first reading from Sirach clearly paints for us the image of a family that is open to life. Parents are to be honored by children and a parent is to live honorably. It is through these familial relations, according to that first reading, that one atones for sins, has prayers heard, is blessed with children, and has a long life. Despite attempts to redefine the idea of family in our modern world, we must safeguard this image both because it mirrors the image of the Holy Family and because it is the best environment to raise children.

The second reading is another one of Paul’s attempts to help us understand love. The laundry list of proper dispositions, including “heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another…” only makes sense when cloaked with love. Otherwise, any of them could result in abuse, discouragement, or a one-sided relationship. Certainly, Paul’s closing statement, “Wives, be subordinate to your husbands, as is proper in the Lord” has been abused in the past and deserves the constant paring of “Husbands, love your wives, and avoid any bitterness toward them.” Humility, love, and subordination are all related in this statement. Paul is also telling husbands to be subordinate to their wives by telling them to love their wives.

Love and openness to children are the first two pieces to this puzzle but it concludes in the gospel with the commitment that is necessary for a family to succeed. Joseph has no reason to stay with Mary and Jesus when the angel appears. This isn’t his son biologically. This very well could be the second or third wife that Joseph has had in his life. Yet, Joseph doesn’t run away when life becomes difficult. He steps up and does what God wants him to do in order to keep his family together. This is the truly radical notion of family that we have to put forth. Far too many men believe that, when family seems to take away their masculinity or rob them of their ability to be in charge, then they can either react with force toward their wives or find a way to escape. The Christian message through Joseph is that the image of Archie Bunker, Homer Simpson, and Peter Griffin is insufficient to the type of holy family each of us should strive to have. We must build our families on commitment, on love, and on a willingness to share in the divine creativity that first brought us into this world and then brought about our salvation through Christ.