Knuckle-draggers

Seeing the hidden King with eyes of faith

11/24/2019

Luke 23:35-43 The rulers sneered at Jesus and said, "He saved others, let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Christ of God." Even the soldiers jeered at him. As they approached to offer him wine they called out, "If you are King of the Jews, save yourself." Above him there was an inscription that read, "This is the King of the Jews." Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us." The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, "Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied to him, "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

Today I would like to make a crazy comparison, namely, between Jesus Christ and King Kong, the movie monster. Before you laugh ludicrously, or phone Pope Francis to excommunicate me, just hear me out. It is not as far-fetched as you might imagine at first sight. Consider these six points of contact and even convergence between these two kingly characters. First, King Kong lives happily in a prehistoric place called “Skull Island” as a king who rules his kingdom and keeps the peace, just like Jesus was happy in heaven ruling as King and Lord over the angels. Second, because of the greed and ambition of human beings, King Kong is forced to leave his primeval Paradise and dragged into the wicked world of men and women. So, too, Jesus leaves his peaceful Paradise to walk this valley of tears due to the ambition of the first man and woman, Adam and Eve. Third, King Kong falls in love with Ann Darrow and only submits to the cruel yolk of slavery in order to save her, and she in turns slowly learns to love him. In like manner, Jesus comes to save his beautiful Bride, the Church, and we Christians too are slow to love our Lord in return.

Fourth, when Kong arrives in Manhattan, how do the people receive him? They are filled with fear that turns into fighting and finally they kill him, on the great monument of Manhatten, the Empire State building. The Jewish leaders also feared Jesus, fought him first verbally, and then finally killed him on the cross, a monument of Roman cruelty. Fifth, as King Kong dies atop the highest point in the Big Apple – reminiscent of ancient apple eaten by Adam and Eve – only Ann Darrow sees King Kong’s goodness and greatness. What happens in the gospel of Luke as Jesus dies on the cross? Only the good thief recognizes Jesus’ royalty, his goodness and greatness, saying: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” The good thief sees Jesus Christ as a king. And sixth, King Kong was a very a-typical king. I mean, he was a huge gorilla after all, and therefore, not handsome or rich or riding on a white horse, and so most people missed his royal dignity. So, too, Jesus is not a typical king: he is poor, rejected, abandoned, ridiculed, and finally executed like a common criminal. So, too, most people, even those closest to him, missed our Lord’s majesty, indeed they missed his Messiahship. My main point in comparing Christ the King to King Kong is to show how easy it is to miss the majesty of the Messiah. True holiness is often hidden and hard to see with human eyes. It requires the eyes of faith.

Missing the Messiah was not only an occupational hazard for first century Jewish believers, it is equally elusive for twenty-first century Christians believers. Have you ever wondered: how did the Jews miss Jesus, their long-awaited Messiah, after witnessing all the miracles and teachings and his holiness? Well, I would suggest to you three areas where it’s easy for us to miss the Messiah, too, especially because his holiness is often hidden. First, we may miss him in the sacraments, second, we don’t usually see him in our spouse, and third, we often overlook him on the streets.

How hard it is to believe that the King of the Universe hides himself in a morsel of bread and a few drops of wine. It would be easier to believe God transforms into a gigantic gorilla than he is transubstantiated into a wafer of bread! And in case you think belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist comes easily, just ask all the Catholics who miss Mass on Sunday, or who have stopped going to Mass all together. Why don’t they come to Mass? They believe they are missing nothing, and sadly, they end up missing everything. It is easy to miss the Messiah because holiness is often hidden from human sight, you must use the eyes of faith to find him.

The second area where we might miss the Messiah is in our spouse, our husband or wife. I have never missed the Messiah in my spouse. Ninety-nine percent of the counseling I do is for marriage problems, mostly counseling the women who complain about their husbands who act like big gorillas, “knuckle-draggers.” And yet St. Paul advises women in Ephesians 5:22, “Wives be subject to your husbands as to the Lord,” and three verses later, he urges men in 5:25, “Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her.” In other words, spouses should love each other because they see Jesus in each other. But how easy it is to miss the Messiah in my spouse!

And thirdly, try to see Jesus in the streets, especially in the poor who live on the streets, the homeless. We are so blessed to have lived in the lifetime of St. Teresa of Calcutta, better known as “Mother Teresa.” I personally met her in Little Rock and again in Washington, D.C. She was so convinced that the street people of Calcutta were Jesus, she would run to pick them up from the gutters and hold them tenderly until they died. She was absolutely convinced she was caring for Christ in every street person. We may not do what St. Teresa of Calcutta did in loving the poor, but we can at least try not to miss the Messiah who walks on the streets. Charity is not a faith accessory, charity is faith in action. Yet how easy it is to miss the Messiah in the poor!

I started this homily with a crazy comparison between Jesus Christ and the mythical movie monster, King Kong. And I admit it was a bit of a stretch. But our Catholic faith also makes rather strange and surprising comparisons to Christ: Jesus hides in a piece of Bread, our Lord is disguised as a husband or wife, and the Messiah suffers in the poor of the streets. Now you tell me: who’s making the crazy comparisons?

Praised be Jesus Christ!

The Bachelorette

Seeing marriage as life-long, monogamous and heterosexual

11/23/2019

Luke 20:27-40 Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to Jesus, saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If someone's brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. Then the second and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her." Jesus said to them, "The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise.

Probably on no one issue does our culture and our Christianity clash over more than on marriage. And I am afraid that clash will get louder and cause more casualties, especially for Christianity as more Christians choose their culture over their faith. Modern culture has put Christian marriage in its cross-hairs and taken dead aim at life-long, monogamous, heterosexual marriage. This culture clash started all the way back in the 1960’s with the free-love movement, where we chanted, “Make love not war.” It has crescendoed in the same-sex marriage movement, which became legal on June 26, 2015 by the Supreme Court decision Obergefell versus Hodges. Any religion that revolts against this cultural tidal wave will be seen as reactionary and regressive and ultimately irrelevant.

But we don’t have to look outside the Church to find the clash between culture and Christianity. It is raging right in our own hearts and in our homes. How do we usually feel about human love, even enshrined in life-long, monogamous, heterosexual marriage? Most Christians would say marriage lasts forever, even in heaven we will be married to our spouse. But that’s not entirely accurate. Our faith teaches that marriage is for earth, not for heaven; it is life-long, meaning for this life, not for the next life; it is a sacrament but a sacrament of service while we walk in this world, not when we step foot into paradise.

Think about it for a moment. The Church does not hesitate to allow widows and widowers to marry. So, when that person – the widow who remarried – enters heaven, will they have two spouses in heaven? Or, maybe she will see which was was the nicer one and keep that one and discard the other? Can you see how even honest, faithful, Church-going Catholics can fall prey to this culture clash? The culture wars are not waged very far from our own hearts and our own homes.

In the gospel today, Jesus weighs in on this culture war regarding marriage. The Sadducees present a predicament of a woman who married seven brothers and finally they all die. Then they ask: “Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her.” That question would have stumped modern American Catholics who feel marriage goes on into heaven. So we might answer that the woman gets to pick the best husband of the seven brothers, like in the television show “The Bachelorette.” That seems to us like only fair way to handle the situation. And perhaps the other six brothers can go be on the show “The Bachelor” and try to find a beautiful woman in heaven.

But is that what Jesus answers to this cultural conundrum? Our Lord’s reply is simple, straight-forward, and also startling. He states like a thunderclap echoing down the centuries: “The children of this age (earth) marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age (heaven) and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry not are given in marriage.” In other words, marriage is for earth not for heaven. When the Church defines marriage as life-long, monogamous, and heterosexual, most Catholics get the monogamous and heterosexual parts: between one man and one woman. But like the Sadducees, we are stumped with the life-long part. We would like marriage to continue into eternity. But Jesus says in heaven there will only be bachelors and bachelorettes. Indeed, Our Lord insists: “They are, like the angels.”

My friends, probably nowhere else do we invest more of our time, talent and treasure than into our families and our marriages. And that’s a good thing. But we should also be careful to recalibrate our expectations for marriage and family according to Christian values instead of cultural values. Sometimes very innocently and unwares, we stand on the side of our culture over and against our Christianity, especially when it comes to matters of marriage. Pray for the gift to see marriage and family life through the eyes of faith, and then read Luke 20 again. And keep reading that passage of scripture until it makes perfect sense.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

The Palisades

Perceiving the power of the words of the Word

11/22/2019

Luke 19:41-44 As Jesus drew near Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, "If this day you only knew what makes for peace– but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides. They will smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation."

The dictionary defines the word “logophile” as a lover of words. And next to the word logophile is a picture of me! Not really, but I do love words, almost to the point of obsession. I feel such a strange and sublime pleasure in finding just the right word to express my thoughts. And if I cannot find just the right word, I sit there like an idiot with a blank stare on my face until I do stumble upon the right word. My deepest delight in discovering the right word comes from seeing how love for all words leads you to love for the original Word, the Word of God, the Word made Flesh (John 1:14), that is, Jesus Christ. In its deepest and most profound sense, a logophile is another word for a Christian, someone who loves all words because all words ultimately point us to the one true and eternal Word, Jesus Christ.

Today, let me help you fall in love with the word “palisade” which we find in both the first reading from 1 Maccabees and the gospel of Luke 19. If you ever visit New York City and drive over the Hudson River on the George Washington Bridge from Manhattan to New Jersey, you will see a striking geological wonder called “The Palisades.” Have you ever seen those or heard of them? The Palisades are a stretch of steep cliffs that roughly resemble stakes that form a fence line for 20 miles. The word “palisades” comes from the Latin word “palus” meaning “stake.” In effect, a palisade is a wall or fence made up of stakes for the purpose of defense against enemy attack.

In the gospel, however, Jesus uses the term “palisade” not to describe how Jerusalem will defend itself but how it will be attacked by the Roman armies. We read Jesus’ words, “For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you, they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides.” Our Lord goes on: “They will smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” And what happened? Almost exactly 40 years after Jesus uttered those prophetic and powerful words, they were fulfilled to the letter by the Roman armies that leveled Jerusalem in 70 A.D. forming a “palisade” or siege around the holy city, which had become an unholy city. When we carefully examine the word palisade we perceive the power of Jesus, the Word of God, who never wields his words carelessly.

We have to dig a little deeper to find the word “palisade” in the first reading from Maccabees. We hear about a heroic man named Mattathias, who killed a Jew committing idolatry. Listen carefully: “When Mattathias saw him, he was filled with zeal…he sprang forward and killed him upon the altar.” But then we hear how Mattathias’ zeal is compared to that of Phinehas, who in Numbers 25, also killed two people committing idolatry, engaging in sexual immorality, by using a palisade, a spear, to pin them both to the ground. In other words, a palisade is a weapon not only to erect a wall of defense, but also to wield in attack against enemies who deny or distort the worship of God by committing idolatry, false worship.

Mattathias may not have picked up a palisade like Phinehas, but both men were filled with a fiery zeal for true worship of God which is related in the Word of God in the Old Testament books of Numbers and Maccabees. That zeal for true worship is exactly what the people lacked in Jesus’ day and therefore “palisades” would be used against the Jews by their enemies because now it was the Jews who were guilty of idolatry, false worship. In other words, if the Jews had studied the history of the word “palisade” in their bible, they would learn how they had failed to offer God true worship, and therefore, they “did not recognize the time of their visitation,” the time of their destruction.

By the way, here’s a random thought. Do you know how to kill Dracula? Of course you do: you have to drive a wooden stake through his heart. You have to drive a palisade through his heart to kill him. Why? Because Dracula does not offer God true worship, rather he is an idolater, he worships false gods. Have you noticed what Catholics do at the beginning of every Mass when we confess our sins and ask for forgiveness? We strike our breasts three times as we ask for mercy and forgiveness. Symbolically, it is as if we are driving a palisade through our hearts for all the times we have loved others things – other false gods, like money, sex and power – more than the true God, for the times we have committed idolatry. A palisade is a great weapon against enemies, and our greatest enemy is within.

And that’s how loving a little word, like palisade, can help you love the Big Word, Jesus Christ. And that's why all good Christians are logophiles.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

My Little Friend

Overcoming stigma of not being Bible Christians

11/19/2019

Luke 19:1-10 At that time Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.” And he came down quickly and received him with joy. When they saw this, they began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”

Catholics often carry the stigma of being called Christians who don’t read the scriptures. When we hear the phrase “Bible Christians” do you usually think of Fr. John or Dc. Greg? Probably not. After all, we don’t usually have a Bible on our desk that is well-worn, with dog-earned pages, underlined passages, and maybe even coffee stains. Sometimes I have to ask several people in the church office where a Bible is, and they really have to search to find one. A Bible is not sitting on every staff person’s desk, and maybe it should be. So, there is some legitimacy to the criticism that Catholics are not “Bible Christians.”

Today, however, I want to give you some reasons to refute and even reverse that complaint. That is, I believe Catholics are more Bible Christians than more Protestants. And now, like Al Pacino said in the movie “Scarface,” “Let me introduce you to my little friend!” My little friend is not a machine gun like in the movie, but rather a book called the Lectionary. Have you ever heard of the Lectionary? That is the big read book containing scripture passages that the lector reads from at daily Mass and Sunday Mass. Two years ago I gave my parents a Christmas present of a book called the Daily Roman Missal that has both Sunday and daily readings for Mass. My dad does not like to use the phone for scripture readings because he thinks the phone is from the devil. And it probably is. The name Lectionary comes from the Latin word “lectio” which means “reading.” So a Lectionary is the Catholic collection of readings from the bible we use at Mass. Let me share a few thoughts about the Lectionary to remove the unwarranted stigma that Catholics are not Bible Christians.

After the Second Vatican Council, the Church updated the Lectionary by expanding the variety and number of scripture passages we hear at Mass. Basically, we hear two sets of cycles depending on whether you attend Sunday Mass or daily Mass. Sunday Mass readings are organized around a three-year cycle based on the three synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, and then the cycle repeats. Matthew is Year A, Mark is Year B, and Luke is Year C. We just heard from the gospel of Luke, so which Year are we current in? You guessed it: Year C. And that’s why priests only prepare three years’ worth of homilies because we can recycle old homilies every three years when the same readings come up at Mass. And the people sleep through our sermons anyway, so you don’t even notice when we do.

The weekday readings of the Lectionary are structured differently, that is, on a two year cycle, called Year 1 and Year 2. Year 1 corresponds to odd numbered years of the calendar, while Year 2 corresponds to even numbered years. If we are currently in the year 2019, an odd numbered year, and therefore which two year cycle are we in? Correct: Year 1. My main point is that if you attend every weekday and Sunday Mass for three years straight – someone like Gene Bruick would – you would hear more of the Bible than most so-called Bible Christians do. Indeed, after Vatican II updated and expanded the Lectionary of the Mass, guess what many Protestant denominations did? They used the Catholic Lectionary as the basis of their own readings of scriptures in their Sunday services. In other words, the Catholics are teaching the Protestants how to read and reflect on and revere the Sacred Scriptures. Now who are the real Bible Christians?

But let me not overstate my case about my little friend, the Lectionary. Catholics do not hear the whole Bible in the course of three years, even if you attended Mass every day. In fact, we will hear only about 40 percent of the Old Testament and about 70 percent of the New Testament in three years. Three books of the Old Testament are entirely omitted from the Lectionary: Judith, 1 Chronicles, and Obadiah. Your homework for today is to read those three Old Testament books before bed!

Even though Catholics have the Lectionary, we still have a long way to go to overcome the stigma of not being Bible Christians. The only way to finally overcome it, of course, is to have a bible on every Catholic’s desk, and actually to read it.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Odd of God

Overcoming three oddities in the Old Testament

11/18/2019

Luke 18:35-43 As Jesus approached Jericho a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging, and hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what was happening. They told him, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by." He shouted, "Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!" The people walking in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent, but he kept calling out all the more, "Son of David, have pity on me!" Then Jesus stopped and ordered that he be brought to him; and when he came near, Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?" He replied, "Lord, please let me see." Jesus told him, "Have sight; your faith has saved you." He immediately received his sight and followed him, giving glory to God. When they saw this, all the people gave praise to God.

The Old Testament is riddled with oddities. The Old Testament is odd. That oddity underscores the old adage: “How odd of God to choose the Jews.” In spite of their oddities, however, God chose the Jewish people as his Chosen People. That divine election should give hope to all the rest of us who are pretty odd, too. And yet we cannot just ignore the Old Testament and relegate ourselves to reading only the New Testament. Why? St. Augustine taught in the 5th century that the New Testament is hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is revealed in the New. They mutually shed light on the other; they are mutually illuminating. May I shed a little light on our reading of the Old Testament so that it might in turn shed better light on our reading of the New Testament? Basically, I would like to change the bulb of the Old Testament and replace it with a new LED light that’s brighter and more environmentally friendly.

If you break open the bible to the Old Testament three oddities will become immediately obvious. First the books of the Old Testament are organized in different ways. Some versions list 1 and 2 Maccabees as the last Old Testament books while other version will list Malachi as the last book of the Old Testament. The 46 books of the Old Testament do not have a standard format for their order. The second oddity is the numbering of the Psalms. Everyone agrees there are 150 Psalms, but starting with Psalm 10, the Psalm start using two different enumerations or numbering systems. Have you ever noticed that? Today we repeated Psalm 119, but sometimes it is listed as Psalm 118. No wonder Catholics cannot quote the bible – we don’t know what number the psalm is! And third, have you read the book of Esther lately? Not only does some of its chapters have numbers, but some are indicated by letters. So, Esther includes chapters A, B, C, D, E and F. Check it out next time you have your bible in hand.

All these odd differences can be traced back to the “competing canons” I preached about last week. There was a Hebrew canon (official list) of the Old Testament and a Greek canon (official list) of the Old Testament. Both were written by Jewish rabbis and scholars before the coming of Christ. Why did they do that? I don’t know! Let me say it again: how odd of God to choose the Jews, especially since they themselves could not choose which canon of scripture to follow. And yet God did choose them, and so must we, in the sense that we must study the Old Testament and try to overcome its oddities. And let me repeat: there was unquestioned consensus in the Church for 1,500 years – before Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation – that the Greek version was the official list for the Old Testament.

When we investigate the Old Testament, and do not ignore it, we can appreciate the New Testament so much more. Indeed, we will read it in a whole new light, with LED light! Today’s gospel is a perfect example. Jesus heals a blind man as he approaches Jericho. If you study the Old Testament, you recall Jericho was where Joshua – which is a variant of the name of Jesus – brought down the walls of Jericho and brought the light of God into the darkness of pagan Canaan. So too, Jesus, the new Joshua, bring light into the life of a man who is in the darkness of blindness by healing him. Jesus brought down the walls of his blindness. And we might also say that studying the New Testament in the light of the Old Testament brings down the walls of our own darkness and ignorance and blindness so we begin the see who Jesus is better. He is the new Joshua. We see with eyes of faith illuminated by both the Old and the New Testaments.

In a sense, the Old and New Testaments are the corrective lenses of faith. Just like we have two eyes that enable us to discern depth perception - we cannot see depth with one eye - so too the lenses of the two Testaments help us to see with eyes of faith and discern the depths of the mysteries of God. St. Paul makes precisely this point in Ephesians 3:18: “That we may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” That light is so bright, some of you have your eyes closed.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Thy Kingdom Come

Praying and preparing for the Parousia

11/17/2019

Luke 21:5-19 While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, "All that you see here-- the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down." Then they asked him, "Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?" He answered, "See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, 'I am he,' and 'The time has come.' Do not follow them! When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end." Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.

One day God was looking down from heaven and he was deeply disappointed with what he saw on earth: the sin, the vanity, the politics, the corruption. He decided it was time for the end of the world. He called together all the heads of state and informed them he would destroy the world in 24 hours. He added: “I leave to you the responsibility of announcing this to your respective people.”

President Barack Obama said: “My fellow Americans, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that God exists, and he has spoken to me. The bad news is that our great nation, and the American dream, will disappear in 24 hours. This is the will of God.” Fidel Castro gathered all the Cubans and solemnly said: “Compatriots, my fellow Communists, I have two pieces of bad news. The first bad news is that God exists and he has spoken to me.” (God’s exists is bad news for Communists.) “The second bad news is that our world Marxist revolution will end in 24 hours. It is God’s will.”

Later that evening, Nicolas Sarkosy interrupted the evening news on French television and declared with a smile: “Today is a very special day for all of us! Why? I have two pieces of good news to announce. The first is that I am the messenger of God. The second good news is that within 24 hours, the problem of unemployment, the financial crisis, removals at the border, corruption, violence, tax increases will all be solved. I keep my campaign promises!” Only politicians try to score political points with the Parousia, the end of the world. Some people see the end of the world as “bad news” and others see it as “good news.” How would you react to the end of the world?

In the gospel today, Jesus is pretty deeply disappointed in the Jewish people of his day and announces the end of their world. Our Lord declares: “all that you see here (pointing to the Temple) – the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.” Jesus was referring to the massive stones of the Jerusalem Temple that, 40 years’ later, would lie in ruins, when the Roman armies would when the level Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 A.D. The Temple represented for the Jews the White House, Capitol Hill, Supreme Court, Library of Congress, Pentagon, and Fort Knox all rolled into one. The end of the Temple was effectively the end of their way of life.

Politicians in Jesus’ day would also try to score political points with the Parousia. Therefore Jesus adds: “See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and ‘The time has come.’ Do not follow them.” In other words, do not let people preempt the Parousia for personal profit, rather, keep your eyes on Jesus, and all will be well, indeed, all will be good news. How so? The Jews saw the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple as “bad news” because it was the end of their world, the world of the Old Testament. But Christians would see the same phenomenon as “good news,” as the dawn of a new world, the world of the New Testament and the birth pangs of the Church. That’s the good news of the Parousia: the end of one world is the beginning of another world, a better world.

My friends, may I suggest three ways we can prepare for the Parousia, the end of the world? First of all, pray for the Parousia. Did you know that every time we recite the Our Father, the Lord’s Prayer, that is exactly what we do? One of the seven petitions of the Lord Prayer is: “Thy kingdom come.” What does that mean? We beg Jesus to come back in his glory at the end of time. And the sooner the better! When we pray the Our Father, we pray for the Parousia; we pray for the end of the world.

Secondly, train your thoughts and harness your hearts to see the Parousia as good news rather than bad news. I love the aphorism: “Don’t let the good become the enemy of the best.” In other words, do not become so attached to the good things of this world that you lose your taste for the best things of heaven. Have you ever stuffed yourself on the appetizers before a meal that you didn’t really want to eat the main course? Sometimes we stuff ourselves with this world and don’t have much of an appetite for the “marriage supper of the Lamb,” the gourmet meal of glory described in Rev. 19:9. By the way, that’s why Catholics are required to fast for an hour before Mass. Why? So that the good does not becomes the enemy of the best. Chips and salsa do not become the enemy of carne asada nor the enemy of Holy Communion.

And thirdly, practice for the Parousia. How do you do that? Well, what did the Greek word “Parousia” originally mean? Instead of “the end of the world,” the original meaning of “Parousia” was “presence” especially that of a conquering hero returning home. Do you recall how a couple of years ago the Cubs returned home to Chicago after winning the World Series in Cleveland in 2016? Their presence in Chi-town after that great victory and the cheers and praises of the crowds gives you a glimpse of the Parousia. And I don’t even like the Cubs! Folks, when does Jesus, the conquering Hero return to his people to shouts of joy and celebration? He does that not only at the end of time, but also at every Mass. Every Mass is a mini-Parousia, when the king returns in glory and we should sing hymns of praise, a lot more than we cheer for our favorite sports team. At every Mass, we practice the Parousia.

When will the world end? I certainly don’t know when it will, but I certainly know that it will. But I also know that, if we pray for the Parousia in the Our Father, if we fast for the Parousia from the good things of earth, and if we practice the Parousia at every Mass, then, the end of the world will feel a lot more like good news and a lot less like bad news.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Strange and Suspicious

Loving without limits like Jesus

11/13/2019

Luke 17:11-19 As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee. As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him. They stood at a distance from him and raised their voice, saying, "Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!" And when he saw them, he said, "Go show yourselves to the priests." As they were going they were cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. Jesus said in reply, "Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?" Then he said to him, "Stand up and go; your faith has saved you."

The Samaritans are arguably some of the strangest and even suspicious people in Scripture. The Samaritans were spurned by the Jews and yet Jesus had a soft spot in his heart for Samaritans. You remember how lovingly he treated the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, suggesting that he himself was her real husband (Jn. 4:18). Jesus tells the surprising story of the “Good Samaritan” in Luke 10, where the Samaritan is the hero of the parable, not the priest nor the Levite. And today in Luke 17, Jesus heals 10 people of leprosy and the only one who returns to say “thanks” was the Samaritan, “a foreigner.” Who are these strange and suspicious Samaritans? Let me say three things about them so you get to know them, and more importantly, so you get to know the limitless love of our Lord for them and for us.

First, try to imagine a mental map of the Holy Land. The distance from Galilee in the north to Jerusalem in the south is about 100 miles, and roughly the distance between Bella Vista and Barling. This area can be divided into three distinct zones: Galilee in the north (with Nazareth and Capernaum and the Sea of Galilee), Samaria in the middle (with Mt. Gerizim) and Judah in the south (with Jerusalem and the Dead Sea). So, if you compare the Holy Land with Northwest Arkansas, Galilee would be the area of Fayetteville/Springdale, Jerusalem the Holy City would be Fort Smith (of course!), and in the middle would be Samaria, basically Mountainburg. The people of Mountainburg would be the strange and suspicious Samaritans. That’s the geography and location of the Samaritans.

What was their ethnic make-up, their gene pool? The Samaritans were half-Jews and half-Babylonians, that is, their pedigree was not pure. That’s why Jesus called the Samaritan in the Luke 17, “a foreigner.” Think of someone from Mountainburg marrying an Okie from Oklahoma – a foreign state! Clearly his or her credentials as a card-carrying Razorback would be called into question. Loyalties would be divided between rival family backgrounds. Indeed, the Jews and Samaritans belonged to countries that were at war with each other. When the Hogs go to war with the Sooners, who do you root for?

A third difference between Jews and Samaritans was religion. Samaritans believed the holy mountain to worship God was Mt. Gerizim. Jews, on the other hand, insisted God’s holy mountain was in Jerusalem. Again, think of people from Mountainburg saying Catholics should only go to Mass in Winslow, in the Boston Mountains, at Our Lady of the Ozarks. Meanwhile, we in the River Valley, insist people should worship here in Fort Smith, at God’s temple of Immaculate Conception. We alone offer God fitting and faithful praise. Every time you hear Jesus traveling from Galilee in the north through strange and suspicious Samaria, down south to Jerusalem, picture our Lord trodding the turf between Fayetteville and Fort Smith, and you’ll have a rough estimate of his route and the people he passed along the way.

The larger message, however, is the message of love (that’s always the larger message), namely, the Jesus’ love has no limits. Even though Jesus’ target audience is the Jewish people headquartered in Jerusalem, his salvation will encompass everyone. Our Lord’s love will break through barriers of location and land and nationality. He doesn’t care if you live on a mountain or in the valley or on the moon or on mars. His love overcome ethnic hatreds and histories by inviting everyone to become part of the family of God born again by baptism. Abandon your ethnic family of birth to be adopted into the eternal family by baptism. And our Lord does not care where you worship, as long as you worship “in Spirit and truth,” as he shared with the Samaritan woman, not Mt. Gerizim, not Mt. Jerusalem, not Mt. Gaylor. Indeed, wherever God’s family gathers to celebrate the Eucharist, there the heavenly Father finds those who “worship him in spirit and in truth.”

The question we have to ask ourselves today is simple. Jesus’ love is unlimited by land or nationality, by ethnicity or culture, or even by religious rivalries. But is our love limited in any of these ways: by nationality or ethnicity or religion? The Samaritans were indeed strange and suspicious people but Jesus loved them. We should likewise love those who seem a little strange and suspicious to us.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Competing Canons

Reading the Sacred Scripture at Mass

11/12/2019

Wisdom 2:23–3:9 God formed man to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made them. But by the envy of the Devil, death entered the world, and they who are in his possession experience it. But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction and their going forth from us, utter destruction. But they are in peace. For if before men, indeed, they be punished, yet is their hope full of immortality; Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of himself. As gold in the furnace, he proved them, and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself. In the time of their visitation they shall shine, and shall dart about as sparks through stubble; They shall judge nations and rule over peoples, and the Lord shall be their King forever. Those who trust in him shall understand truth, and the faithful shall abide with him in love:Because grace and mercy are with his holy ones, and his care is with his elect.

I have never been a big fan of studying history; it was my least favorite subject in school, right below math. I have discovered, though, that I cannot effectively study the bible without studying history. Think about it: the bible itself covers all human history from Creation to the Second Coming. The bible, however, is concerned with conveying “salvation history” as opposed to the “secular history” we learned about in school. Nonetheless, both salvation history and secular history are two components of human history, your history and my history, indeed, everyone’s history.

Now, here’s the hard part about studying history – both sacred and secular – namely, the farther back you travel in time, the numbers become more nebulous. Dates, names, and places go from being very scientific to being very symbolic, from being hard, to being soft, from being firm facts to being good guesses. Just take one familiar example from the book of Genesis. The seven days of creation are not intended by the inspired author to convey 24-hour periods of time as scientists might suppose. Instead, the number “seven” symbolizes the covenant with God – seven was the number of the covenant – and therefore his creating in seven days meant he created a covenant with us, through our first parents, Adam and Eve. In other words, whenever you study history, especially salvation history, keep in mind that numbers carry a symbolic value and not just a scientific value. These soft numbers give rise to not a little scholarly debate.

Now let me say a word about the evolution, the history, of the bible itself, especially the 46 books of the Old Testament. Did you know that in the three centuries prior to Jesus’ Incarnation, there were two competing canons, or official lists, of the Old Testament? The Jews living in Jerusalem compiled one canon called the “Hebrew Bible” containing 39 books. The Jews living in Alexandria, Egypt, one of the greatest centers of learning in the Ancient World, boasting the impressive Library of Alexandria, compiled another canon containing 46 books written in Greek. Now, you might think: who cares about two competing Jewish canons of scriptures. Why get involved in some intramural squabble of Jewish scholars? That’s their business, not ours. Not so fast.

When we read the New Testament and Jesus and Peter and Paul refer to “the scriptures” which canon do they mean: the list of 39 books or the list of 46 books? There is wide scholarly consensus that Jesus and the apostles, especially St. Paul, were using the Greek Old Testament with 46 books as their “scriptures.” Indeed, there was no debate about using the Greek Old Testament for 1,500 years. Do you know what ecclesiastical earthquake occurred in 1517 that changed the Church’s landscape forever? Martin Luther published the first Protestant bible that used the Hebrew canon of 39 books for the Old Testament and declared the 7 books not in the Hebrew bible uninspired by the Holy Spirit. Luther wrote: “These books are not held equal to the Scriptures, but are good and useful to read.” That would be like saying my last book of homilies called Oh, Lord, Have Mercy is not equal to the scriptures but they’re still good and useful to read. With one stroke of his pen, Martin Luther undid the work of the Holy Spirit in inspiring seven books of the Holy Bible. He declared them uninspired. That’s why we cannot effectively study the bible without also studying history.

Do you know what one of those seven books jettisoned from the Protestant bible is? It was our first reading today, the book of Wisdom. We read these comforting words: “The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them.” After the lector concluded the reading, she added solemnly: “The Word of the Lord.” The congregation dutifully answered in unison: “Thanks be to God.” But if Martin Luther had been sitting in the pews today, he would have coughed, “No it’s not!” Can you see and feel what is at stake in determining which of these two competing canons comprises the Old Testament scriptures? It is not merely an academic question for spectacled scholars to debate ad nauseum, but it concerns all Christians, and indeed the substance of divine worship.

In sum, should we read Tobit, Wisdom, Judith, Sirach, Baruch, 1 and 2 Maccabees at Mass as the inspired Word of God, or leave them out of the liturgy? Studying the history of the bible can answer that question better than studying the bible itself can. Why? Because otherwise, how do you know which bible to study?

Praised be Jesus Christ!

In Memory of Rick and Gene

Increasing in faith in the face of death

11/11/2019

Luke 17:1-6 Jesus said to his disciples, "Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the one through whom they occur. It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, 'I am sorry,' you should forgive him." And the Apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith." The Lord replied, "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you."

For Christians Sundays are supposed to be filled with rest from labor and resurrection to new life. But yesterday turned out to be exactly the opposite experience for me and for two Immaculate Conception families: it felt like a day marked by death and despair. I hope you have already heard the sad news, and I apologize if you’re hearing it first from me, instead of directly from the affected families. Yesterday, Rick Reedy, while hunting in Kansas, died of a heart attack. He and his family had all become Catholic four years ago here at I.C.

Also, last night, our beloved Gene Bruick suffered a massive heart attack and died at Mercy Hospital. I was able to give Gene the Last Rites last night. Last Saturday, Gene played golf, one of his favorite things to do, and Friday he helped me distribute Holy Communion at 7 a.m. Mass. Whenever he handed me the ciborium after distributing Communion, he would smile really big and wink at me. As you can imagine both families are distraught and struggling with this unexpected tragedy. As a parish family, we all suffer when any one person suffers, and so we join them in grieving their loss, which is also our loss. As you pastor, the spiritual father of our parish family, here at three thoughts of how I’m dealing with their deaths, and maybe it will help you handle your own grief a little more faithfully and a little more fruitfully.

First, there’s an old proverb that teaches – you know you’re getting older when you know more people in heaven than on earth. Yesterday, I felt like I aged twenty years in visiting the Reedy family at home and the Bruick family in the hospital. Tragic deaths of loved one has an uncanny way of inducing maturity and growth. Death makes “days” feel like “years” of life. Death ages us. The surplus value of dealing with death, however, lies in seeing heaven as our home, populated by those we love, and who await our passage home to them. Every Christian should live with one foot on earth and the other foot in heaven. And every funeral we attend should make us want to have both feed in heaven, which is where we pray Rick and Gene’s feet are trodding today. There are a lot of people waiting and waving “hello” to Rick and Gene on the sunny shores of heaven than there are people waving “good-bye” to them here in this vale of tears on earth. Death makes you grow up fast.

Secondly, death opens our eyes and helps us to have more faith. The Apostles beg Jesus in the gospel today: “Increase our faith.” Jesus answered that prayer by all his amazing miracles and astounding teachings. But perhaps his greatest answer to increase their faith was by his own death and resurrection. On Good Friday and Easter Sunday, Jesus opened the eyes of faith of the Apostles to see that he had come to give them abundant life, as he said in John 10:10. But they would experience that abundance fully in heaven. Jesus has not forgotten his promise of giving abundant life to Rick and Gene either. How so? When we look at death with the eyes of faith, we see Jesus also wants to bless them with the glorious resurrection he himself experienced. Yesterday I read Psalm 23 with the Reedy family and I gave Gene the Apostolic Pardon. Those two prayers can help increase our faith in Jesus’ resurrection, and also in Rick and Gene’s resurrection. Death can increase our faith.

Thirdly, the death of a loved one fills the Mass with more meaning, at least for me. Every day before I celebrate Mass, I look at the little piece of paper on the altar that shows the “intention” for the Mass, usually the name of a deceased loved one. A wry smile crosses my face because I usually officiated at most of their funeral Masses. Every time I celebrate the Mass, therefore, I feel a spiritual closeness and contact with those who have died. Now, I will feel especially close to Rick and Gene at every Mass. At the Last Supper before our Lord suffered and died, he commanded his apostles: “Do this in memory of me.” By extension, every Mass is also a chance to “remember” all those who have died in Christ, and now to remember Rick and Gene. The Mass makes people feel close especially when death makes them feel far away. The Mass is often called the “medicine of immortality,” not only for those who have died, but also for us who are still living on earth. That is one reason Catholics are required to attend Mass every Sunday: so that no matter how close death comes, Sunday will still feel like a day of rest from labor and resurrection to new life.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Friendly Footnotes

Seeing Scripture as footnotes of faith

11/08/2019

Luke 16:1-8 Jesus said to his disciples, "A rich man had a steward who was reported to him for squandering his property. He summoned him and said, 'What is this I hear about you? Prepare a full account of your stewardship, because you can no longer be my steward.' The steward said to himself, 'What shall I do, now that my master is taking the position of steward away from me? I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg. I know what I shall do so that, when I am removed from the stewardship, they may welcome me into their homes.' He called in his master's debtors one by one.To the first he said, 'How much do you owe my master?' He replied, 'One hundred measures of olive oil.' He said to him, 'Here is your promissory note. Sit down and quickly write one for fifty.' Then to another he said, 'And you, how much do you owe?' He replied, 'One hundred measures of wheat.' He said to him, 'Here is your promissory note; write one for eighty.' And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently. For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than the children of light."

As you know, I am helping lead a Bible study on Monday evenings. Before each class, the participants (whom I call “Scripture scholars” so they’ll keep coming back) are required to read the footnotes at the bottom of the page of the chapters we are reading. That sounds easy enough, but not in the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible. There, the footnotes are almost always longer than the text of Scripture itself. In other words, we spend more time reading the footnotes than the Bible itself. Why?

Well, the Bible is not self-interpreting, or self-evident; its meaning is not obvious. It was written for people and by people and in a language and at a time completely foreign to 21st century Fort Smithians. Basically, the footnotes build a bridge that spans 2,000 years of time, from the culture of 1st century Palestine to 21st century Pine Bluff. If there’s one lesson I hope people learn from my Bible study it is that footnotes are our friends. Don’t fly over the footnotes too fast. You will not understand the wisdom of the Holy Spirit whispered in every word of Sacred Scripture without the help of the friendly footnotes.

Today’s gospel from Luke 16 is a perfect example of how footnotes are our friends. You have heard the parable of the dishonest steward tons of times. And if you’re like me, you probably scratch your heard trying to understand the point of the parable. On the surface it seems the steward has just cheated his master out of his money but cutting what his debtors owe him. The footnotes on Luke 16:1-8, however, explains: “The parable of the dishonest stewards has to be understood in light of the Palestinian custom of agents acting on behalf of their masters and the usurious practice common to such agents.” That is, people charge exorbitant interest on loans.

The footnote continues: “The master commends the dishonest steward who has forgone his own usurious commission on the business transaction by having the debtors write new notes that reflected only the real amount (i.e. minus the steward’s profit).” In other words, imagine a car dealer who sold cars at cost and took no commission for himself, and you get the point of the parable, and why the steward was commended. He was self-sacrificing. Could you feel how the footnote on Luke 16:1-8 felt like a bridge that connected two distant cultures? We can say after reading the footnote: Luke is speaking my lingo!

Now I would like to apply this analogy of footnotes being our friends to the whole Bible. That is, try to see the Sacred Scripture itself as the footnotes of our faith in Jesus Christ. St. Jerome, the patron saint of scripture scholars, famously said in his Introduction to Isaiah, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” In other words, when it comes to knowing and loving Jesus, we also need a bridge to him to reach us and for us to reach him. And that bridge was built by the Holy Spirit and the Church when we read the Bible. The whole Bible is a bridge that spans the vast vacuum of space and time between heaven and earth. The Bible serves as the footnotes of our faith.

If you want to understand the Catholic faith: the seven-fold sacraments, Marian motherhood, papal primacy, the succor of the saints, the reverence of relics, the place of the priesthood, the activity of the angels, the hope of heaven, the horrors of hell, the mystery of the Mass, the comfort of confession, the parade of prophets, the ecstasy of evangelization, the deception of the devil, the mission of the martyrs, the role of religious, the continuity of the liturgical calendar, which all leads us to the loving heart of the Holy Trinity, then read the footnotes of the faith, called the Holy Bible.

Sometimes our Catholic faith can feel like a far-away fairyland unrelated to the reality of daily life in downtown Fort Smith. That’s why we need to read the footnotes of our faith called the Holy Bible. To make it through Bible study, as well as to make it through life, be sure to take time to carefully read the friendly footnotes.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Mother's Milk

Accepting our Lord’s invitation to his banquet

11/05/2019

Luke 14:15-24 One of those at table with Jesus said to him, "Blessed is the one who will dine in the Kingdom of God." He replied to him, "A man gave a great dinner to which he invited many. When the time for the dinner came, he dispatched his servant to say to those invited, 'Come, everything is now ready.'

But one by one, they all began to excuse themselves. The first said to him, 'I have purchased a field and must go to examine it; I ask you, consider me excused.' And another said, 'I have purchased five yoke of oxen and am on my way to evaluate them; I ask you, consider me excused.' And another said, 'I have just married a woman, and therefore I cannot come.' The servant went and reported this to his master. Then the master of the house in a rage commanded his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in here the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame.' The servant reported, 'Sir, your orders have been carried out and still there is room.' The master then ordered the servant, 'Go out to the highways and hedgerows and make people come in that my home may be filled. For, I tell you, none of those men who were invited will taste my dinner.'"

One of my favorite functions as a priest and pastor is to visit families for dinner. Whenever I arrive at a new home, though, I have to smile at the irony of my dinner dates. Why? Well, growing up, my parents never invited the priest over for supper. Sometimes it’s good to keep the pastor at arm’s length and not get too close. He may ask for more money! One thing that humbles me the lengths people go to prepare for dinner with the priest. Recently, I visited a family and asked the children: “What did you do all day?” They sulkily replied: “We spent the whole day cleaning the house for your arrival.” I answered, “Oh, gee, thanks! Sorry to ruin your day.” And I thought: no wonder my parents never invited the priest over for supper.

Another sacrifice people make it the length they go to prepare the meal and set the table. Some people cook for hours, set the table with fresh flowers, bring out their best china, and even eat in the formal dining room. Indian cooking doesn’t take hours, some dishes take days. On some dates, though, I receive multiple invitations and cannot honor them all, on holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s or Easter. Sometimes, I table hop and try to get to several meals in one night. Ah, the sacrifices we priests make for Jesus!

Over 23 years of visiting families I have literally shared thousands of meals with parishioners. I’ve learned that being invited to supper is not only something special, it is even something intimate. If you’ll forgive the comparison – I believe it is similar to a mother breast-feeding her baby. A family feeds its dinner guests with the milk of their love and sacrifice, and guests should feel grateful for this great gift.

In Luke 14, Jesus teaches a parable about a dinner to which many were invited but they declined the dinner. What does the host do? He commands his servants: “Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in here the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame.” In other words, the host has gone to great lengths to prepare this banquet and the invited guests were not grateful for his love or sacrifice. When we remember the feast refers to the meal in the Kingdom of God, we realize it took all eternity to prepare, not just a few hours, or even a few days like some Indian dishes.

But now let’s apply the intimate analogy of breast-feeding to giving a meal, and we discover how harsh the rejection of the invited guest feels. And by the way, in case you think I invented the analogy of breast-feeding to a banquet, listen to Isaiah 66:1, the last chapter of Isaiah and the fulfillment of God’s prophesies and promises. The Seer says: “So that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breasts; That you may drink with delight at her abundant breasts.” That is, God’s heavenly banquet is nothing short of the milk of his love. Therefore, rejecting his invitation to dinner is tantamount to a baby rejecting its mother’s milk. What could be worse?

My friends, we don’t have to wait till heaven to sit at the banquet God has prepared for us from all eternity. That banquet of his love is spread out for us at every Mass, in the Body and Blood of the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the milk of divine love. One of the most ancient images of the Eucharist is that of the mother pelican that wounds its breast to feed its babies. Have you ever seen that image in churches? You can see, I hope, how the image of the pelican and the image of the breast-feeding easily combine to give a rich meaning to the meal of the Mass. That’s the Good News.

Here’s the bad news. Just like in Jesus’ parable, many are invited but not many accept the invitation to dinner. How many Catholics have left the Church and snub our Lord’s invitation to dinner at Sunday Mass? Like in the parable where the invited guests have lots of ready excuses for declining the dinner, so too modern Catholics have a ton of excuses to miss Mass, and other things they’d rather do. But the heart of our Lord hurts like a mother who wants to breast-feed her baby, but is rejected.

Our Savior wants to feed us with the Blood of his sacrifice and the milk of his love in the Eucharist. Please don’t decline Jesus’ invitation to dinner, and I won’t decline your invitation to dinner either.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Picture of Purgatory

Reflections on the resurrection of the righteous

11/04/2019

Luke 14:12-14 On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees. He said to the host who invited him, "When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

In the month of November both the Book of Nature and the Book of Scripture invite us to meditate on the end of earthly life and the hope of heavenly life. We watch the lovely tree leaves falling and the world falling asleep; likewise, we blessed cemeteries yesterday and prayed for those who had fallen asleep in Christ. In the gospel today, Jesus talks about “the resurrection of the righteous,” and I would like to offer you three reflections on that resurrection of the righteous, since it seems both Nature and Scripture beckon us to do it.

The first point: a few years ago my uncle passed away in New Delhi, India and my parents and returned for the funeral Mass. The Indian tradition required that after a funeral Mass, the family should invite the poor neighbors to their home for a feast in honor of the deceased. But what often happens, though, is only the family and friends attend and the poor are neglected. My parents decided, therefore, that instead we would go to a leper colony run by Mother Teresa’s Sisters and feed the people there, which we did for lunch. My parents also made a generous donation to the ministry of the Sisters.

That tradition is rooted in today’s gospel from Luke 14, where Jesus taught: “When you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous.” But notice the pivotal point: that act of charity was not for our benefit, but rather for my uncle’s. In other words, we prayed God would apply that act of charity to my uncle’s list of good deeds and usher him out of purgatory more promptly, so he might more speedily enjoy the resurrection of the righteous.

Second point: Do you ever wonder what really happens in purgatory? Certainly, it is a place of purgation and purification and preparation for entry into heaven. In addition, I would like to suggest this analogy, in order to give you a “picture of purgatory.” I believe all the dead in purgatory are undergoing “seminary training” in order to become priests and nuns in heaven. In heaven, therefore, everyone will be a priest or a nun. We know that on earth the fundamental focus of priests and nuns is to love God and neighbor, and we achieve that objective primarily by not being married.

St. Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 7:32, “An unmarried man is anxious about things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord.” A few verses later, the Apostle adds this for ladies: “An unmarried woman or virgin is anxious about the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy in both body and spirit.” In purgatory, therefore, we will be purified from worldly anxieties so we can be anxious about the things of the Lord” and please him. In Matthew 22, Jesus adds his own weight to this analogy of purgatory as seminary, saying: “At the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven.” In other words, if you’ve ever wondered: “What would it be like to be a priest or a nun?” well, you will find out in purgatory, where human marriage will give way to divine marriage between Jesus and his Bride, the Church. Ironic as it may sound, purgatory is simultaneously seminary preparation and marriage preparation. We will be both celibate toward human persons, but married to the divine Person, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, Jesus Christ, the Word made Flesh.

Here’s the third point: have you been keeping up with the latest synod of bishops and laity that Pope Francis has convoked in Rome? The purpose of the synod is to discuss issues of evangelization and ecology. But the headlines have been hijacked by the controversial topic of allowing married deacons become ordained priests. Now, to be clear, priestly celibacy is a tradition that slowly evolved over the first 600 years of Church history, and finally became normative and normal about 1, 000 years ago. It is a discipline not a doctrine and therefore it can be changed. The Holy Father would be acting fully within his apostolic authority if he modified that discipline, especially in the Amazon region rather than universally.

But personally, I hope he does not do that. Why? When we lose the celibate priesthood, we lose our picture of purgatory as preparation for heaven. Every Sunday when we attend Mass we see a celibate priest preaching the Good News and feeding Christ’s flock with the Lord’s own Body and Blood. But because he is celibate, he does even more than that: he gives every parishioner who stops to reflect deeply a preview of coming attractions, a picture of purgatory. In other words, beholding a celibate priest at the altar every Christian could say with confidence: “Someday I will be like Fr. John.” That picture of purgatory, and future heavenly glory, is what Amazonia would lose if the Holy Father relaxes the discipline of celibacy.

That’s what I believe Jesus means when in Luke 14 he refers to the “resurrection of the righteous.” And now you know what people are doing in purgatory.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Cinderella Stories

Striving for spiritual success in life

11/03/2019

Luke 19:1-10 At that time, Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said, "Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house." And he came down quickly and received him with joy. When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, "He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner." But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over." And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost."

I am a huge fan of the actor Russell Crowe, and have enjoyed all his movies, except maybe Noah, which was really weird. One movie that touched me deeply was called “Cinderella Man,” where Russell Crowe played a boxer in New Jersey during the Depression. Did you see it? The movie epitomizes the American spirit that loves the underdog. Americans instinctively cheer for David against Goliath. Russell Crowe plays James Braddock, an Irish-American boxer who breaks his right hand in a fight and has to give up boxing. Even though Braddock eventually finds work as a longshoreman, the family barely makes enough money to survive. Braddock gets another chance to box, and discovers that his left hand has grown much stronger; he has become ambidextrous and can box with both hands. Surprisingly, Braddock beats the number-two contender in the world, a fellow named Corn Griffin. Feeling he can fight again, Braddock begins boxing, over the out-spoken objections of his very worried wife.

One victory in the ring leads to another and the family find itself with more money than they really need. What does Braddock do? In a gesture of extreme generosity, he actually returns some of the government money he received while unemployed, giving it back to the government. Can you imagine anyone voluntarily giving money back to the government? One sportswriter dubs Braddock with the nickname of “Cinderella Man” because of his rags to riches story. After several more victories, Braddock finally gets a chance to fight the reigning world champion, Max Baer, who really is a “bear” because he mauls his opponents in the ring. Baer had previously killed two fighters in a match. Braddock was given a 10 to 1 and clearly the underdog: David against Goliath. But on June 13, 1953, Madison Square Garden witnessed one of the greatest upsets in boxing history: Braddock defeated Baer and was crowned world champion. You might say that Cinderella got her tiara.

Braddock symbolized the fighting American spirit during the Depression and he gave hope to a whole nation. But I would suggest to you that Braddock also stood as a sign of hope for countess immigrants, like from Ireland like him, as well as from India, like my family, who all came to these shores dreaming of a rags to riches story for us, too. Maybe someday I will be crowned with a tiara, too.

In the gospel today, we witness another Cinderella story, but not in the material sense, but rather in the spiritual sense. That is, going not from rags to riches, but from sinner to saint. By all external standards, Zacchaeus appears to be a very unlikely candidate for sainthood. He is the chief tax collector in Jericho and known for extortion at the expense of the poor people. Put simply: his wealth was the cause of their poverty. But Zacchaeus’ sins are no match for Jesus’ sanctity in Jericho, just like Baer’s malice was no match for Braddock’s metal in the boxing ring.

Zacchaeus even takes a page out of Braddock’s playbook and pays back money he received but doesn’t really need. He promises to the poor: “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone, I shall pay it four times over.” Jesus expresses his profound pleasure and praises Zacchaeus for his change of heart, his conversion. In other words, Jesus sort of crowns Zacchaeus with the tiara of a saint. Zacchaeus too experienced a Cinderella story: not from rags to riches, but from sinnerhood to sainthood.

Folks, which of these two Cinderella stories inspires you more: going from rags to riches or from sinner to saint? Or to put it more personally: which of these two would you like to be storyline of your own life? Is there anyone in this church, including this priest, who has not dreamed of winning the lottery and striking it rich? People tell me periodically: “Fr. John, if you’ll bless this lottery ticket, I promise to give half of the jackpot to the church.” Of course, I bless that ticket with holy water and with incense and with holy oil, too! There’s nothing wrong with working hard and enjoying the fruits of our labors. A rags to riches story is laudable in many respects.

But how hard are we working for spiritual success, for sainthood? Are we are zealous as Zacchaeus to invite Jesus into our homes and hearts? Are we anxious to pay back and make restitution to anyone whom we may have wronged? When was the last time you went to confession and told Jesus we are sorry for our sins? Every confessional is like the boxing ring where we go toe-to-toe with a spiritual Max Baer, namely, Satan. Most of us are too afraid of confession and never step into the ring. I am convinced that the best barometer for spiritual zeal is the frequency of confession. For instance, Pope St. John Paul II and St. Mother Teresa were known to confess weekly. J.P. II and Mother Teresa are the James Braddocks of the spiritual life.

During the month of November, we remember our family and friends who have died and gone before us. In a sense, their earthly stories have come to a close, and the final chapter has been written. As they stand on the far shore of eternity, looking back at this earthly life, which Cinderella story do you think they wish their life had resembled: that of Braddock or that of Zacchaeus: rags to riches or sinner to saint? Each person will be crowned with the tiara that we earned on earth. Everyone gets a tiara.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Death Dealing

Meditating on the scriptures to face death

11/02/2019

John 6:37-40 Jesus said to the crowds: "Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day."

We all deal with death in different ways. Some ways are good, others are better, and some are best, and some ways are not good at all. Let me give you some examples. Last Sunday I received a call to go to Mercy Hospital Emergency Room. A little girl named Millie Giana, who was only 5 years old, had died from pneumonia. By the time I arrived, the family was gone but the grandmother was sitting next to Millie’s bed and caressing her cheeks. The little girl was strikingly beautiful, and I wondered if she resembled the daughter of Jairus in Mark 5, whom Jesus raised from the dead. The grandmother and I recited the prayers called “Commendation of the Dying.” I was so sad to leave the grandmother and granddaughter there in the ER, but what else could I do? I prayed the rosary for them and we have prayed for Millie at Mass. That’s one way to deal with death: prayerfully.

                I’ll never forget something Msgr. Hebert (my first pastor) said upon returning from Baptist Hospital in Little Rock. He had just anointed someone in ICU, who was hooked up to numerous tubes and medical devices all keeping him alive. Msgr. Hebert said stoically: “John, if I’m ever in that situation, I want you to anoint me, give me the Apostolic Pardon, and then as you leave the room, kick the plug out of the wall.” As you know Catholics are not required to resort to extraordinary means of life support, so Msgr. Hebert was making a morally laudable request. That’s another way to deal with death: get ready spiritually and then get heck the out of here.

Last week Fr. Matt Garrison from Sacred Heart in Barling gave a talk on funeral planning at “Pints with a Priest.” The talk was titled: “Putting Fun back in Funerals.” He basically outlined the do’s and don’t’s of a Catholic funeral Mass, such as the legitimacy of having the body cremated. At the end, he helped people to actually plan their funeral Mass. And that’s another way of dealing with death: preplanning.

Perhaps the best way to deal with death, however, is meditating on the sacred scriptures. The bible is a Christian’s compass to navigate this world and find our way home to heaven. The Mass of November 2, the Commemoration of All Souls, offers us great scriptures to help us wrestle with our great enemy, Death. Wisdom 3 consoles us with the words: “The souls of the just are in the hand of God.” So, we can pray with confidence that 5 year-old Millie sits smiling in the hand of God today. Psalm 23 is familiar to everyone, which describes the Good Shepherd, who leads us – his sheep – to verdant pastures, which ultimately turn out to be Paradise. The final verse reads: “And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for years to come.”

Two options for the New Testament epistles are taken from Romans. In Romans 5 we read: “God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” That is, Jesus’ death sheds new light on our own death. We see that death is not the last word on life. Death is not a period at the end of the sentence of life, but only a comma. Romans 6 sheds an even brighter light by bringing in baptism. Have you noticed how I always quote Romans 6 at every funeral as I sprinkle the casket with holy water, a sign of baptism? Paul teaches in Romans 6: “If, then, we have died with Christ [by baptism], we believe that we shall also live with him.” In other words, baptism throws open the doors of Paradise for us believers.

But there are no better words in the whole bible, though, than those that fall from the lips of our Lord, as for instance, in John 6. Jesus assures us: “That everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.” We hear the powerful promise of the only One who did hand-to-hand combat with Death and came out victorious. On the Cross it was not Jesus who died, but rather Death who died, because Jesus is alive and lives forever. The best way to deal with death, therefore, is to incorporate ourselves into Jesus’ own death and resurrection, not just at the end of our natural life, but every day.

Finally, may I suggest one way we should not deal with death, namely, we should not ignore it, or pretend like it is no big deal. Our modern culture has grown increasingly desensitized to death. Whether it is abortion, or euthanasia, or suicide, or mass shootings, or suicide bombers, death feels like no big deal. Perhaps that’s our great Enemy’s ultimate weapon: to make us ignore him or to take him lightly as no enemy at all. That would be the worst way to deal with death because it would make a mockery of our Lord’s saving death on the Cross. It would mean that Christ was crucified for nothing.

How do we deal with death? We can laugh at death, we can cry at death, but please do not ignore death or pretend like he’s no big deal. Why? Because that’s how in the end death wins.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Passport to Paradise

Seeing the Beatitudes as our passport to paradise

11/01/2019

Matthew 5:1-12A When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven."

One of the most valuable pieces of identification you and I possess is our U.S. passport. It is even more valuable than your cell phone because a passport is a lot harder to replace if it gets lost. But do you know when your passport goes from being valuable to being invaluable, that is, when it becomes priceless, worth more than gold? That happens every time when you leave the United States to travel abroad. Occasionally, I’ll take out my passport and thumb through its pages and reminisce and remember the many exotic foreign lands I’ve visited. My passport has been stamped in Honduras, in Frankfurt, Germany, in Rome, Italy, and in New Delhi, India.

The best part of every trip, however, is returning home to this beloved and blessed country. As I stand in line to go through customs and immigration, I see everyone else also holds their passports in their hands. I love to spy at people’s passports and see what countries they come from: some hail from Europe, others from Asia, still others from Africa or South America. I always feel a sense of deep pride as I hold my American passport, and know people are probably checking out what passport I have, and I make sure they can see it. Why am I so proud of this little blue book? On the cover are emblazoned the symbols of our country: an eagle holds arrows of war and an olive branch of peace, thirteen stars stand for the thirteen colonies, and a banner in the eagle’s beak declares in Latin: “E pluribus unum,” meaning, “out of the many, one.”

That little Latin phrase packs a big punch. It not only means out of the original thirteen colonies one country emerged, but it also suggests that out of people from many cultures, languages, ethnicities, backgrounds and histories, one united people emerged. Grade school children are taught the Pledge of Allegiance, and we learn to say: “One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” The pride of an entire people is embodied in that little blue book that I hand to the immigration official when it’s finally my turn in line. I cannot suppress a smile when he says, “welcome home, Father Antony.”

In the gospel today, Jesus delivers his timeless Beatitudes, the beginning of his Sermon on the Mount. In a sense, the eight Beatitudes are the oral equivalent of a passport. How so? Well, Jesus promises entry into the Kingdom of Heaven for those whose lives are defined by the Beatitudes, like a passport describes the life of Americans. Notice Jesus is not talking about how to get into the country of Honduras, but rather entry into the Kingdom of Heaven. I love Hamlet’s haunting description of heaven, “the undiscovered country.” The country we came from and to which we long to return. In other words, the Beatitudes is not your typical passport because the country we wish to enter is not your typical country, indeed, it is no country at all, but rather a Kingdom. And in that heavenly Kingdom, the King has instructed his head of Homeland Security, St. Peter, to check people’s papers, their passports, for entry.

What will your passport need to show? It must show how you were poor in spirit, how you were meek, how you mourned, how you hungered for holiness, how you were merciful, how you were clean of heart, how you were a peacemaker, and how you were persecuted for righteousness. Just like everyone standing in line at an international airport makes sure their passport and customs documents are updated and accurate, so too each one of us will one day stand in line to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Our passport will have eight boxes to check to show we have the credentials to enter that “undiscovered country” of Paradise. The time to prepare our passport for the final leg of our journey home is today, by practicing the eight Beatitudes.

There is another sense in which the Beatitudes can be compared to a U.S. passport, especially today, on the Feast of All Saints. Just like the eagle on the cover of the U.S. passport holds a banner that says “E pluribus unum,” so the Kingdom of Heaven is also made up of people from many ethnicities, languages, cultures, customs and histories, people from all places and from all times. That’s why we read in Revelation 7:9 (our first reading), “After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people and tongue.” In other words, no other country on earth enjoys the ethnic diversity of the United States of America, and in that sense, this country is a shapshot of the Kingdom of Heaven. To be sure, our country is far from perfect, but when we respect our rich cultural heritage which hails from everywhere, we really hit the heavenly nail on the head.

Let me leave you with the inspiring exhortation found on the second page of the U.S. passport. Most people usually skip over it, but it is insightful and instructive. It reads: “The Secretary of State of the United States of America hereby requests all whom it may concern to permit the citizen/national of the United States named herein to pass without delay or hindrance and in case of need to give all lawful aid and protection. And if you don’t, we will bomb you back to the Stone Age.” Just kidding, I added that last part. So much for being meek and merciful!

In a similar spirit, we can say our King, Jesus Christ, watches over us as we travel abroad – as “strangers and sojourners” in far off lands we read in 2 Peter 2:11 – until we return safely home to the Kingdom of Heaven. The best part of every trip is returning home, especially if you hold a current and accurate passport with all 8 boxes of the Beatitudes checked. I cannot wait to smile when St. Peter says: “Welcome home, Fr. Antony.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!