Hit for the Wall

Putting our confidence in Christ as Creator

06/30/2020

Matthew 8:23-27 As Jesus got into a boat, his disciples followed him. Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by waves; but he was asleep. They came and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” He said to them, “Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?” Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great calm. The men were amazed and said, “What sort of man is this, whom even the winds and the sea obey?”

When it comes to studying Scripture, I prefer the big picture approach. As they say in baseball, he’d rather hit for the wall than play small ball. Put differently, I like to fly high at one thousand feet and enjoy the bird’s eye view of the whole landscape than swoop down and inch along with the worm’s eye view. Of course both approaches are insightful and instructional and really indispensable for a clear and complete view of the Bible. That’s what I’d like to do briefly this morning with the gospel of Matthew today: first hit for the wall and soar over the stadium of Scripture like a homerun ball, and then skip along the ground like a bunt to third base. Can you tell I miss baseball?

If you want the bird’s eye view of the whole gospel of Matthew, I highly recommend you read the book “Five Speeches that Changed the World” by Ben F. Meyer. He wrote: “There is a sense in which the heart of [Matthew’s] catechesis was the five great speeches that strategically mark off his whole great Gospel like a series of surveyor’s pickets.” What are these five surveyor’s pickets, these five great speeches? They are (1) the Sermon on the Mount in Mt. 5-7, (2) the Missionary Discourse in Mt. 10, (3) the Parable Discourse in Mt. 13, (4) the Ecclesial or Church Discourse in Mt. 18, and (5) the Eschatological or End Times Discourse in Mt. 24-25.

In a sense these five great speeches are equivalent to the first five books of the Bible – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy – all traditionally attributed to Moses. What is Matthew implying with his literary structure of the five speeches? Just as Moses gave five great speeches (give great books) to begin the Old Testament, so now Jesus delivers five great speeches to begin the New Testament. So, Jesus is the New Moses. Making connections like that is why I love to see the big picture in Scripture.

Now let’s bunt to third base and get a closer look at Matthew 8, today’s gospel. Knowing the big picture, you can easily situate the story of the calming of the Sea of Galilee between the first two surveyor’s pickets, the Sermon on the Mount (cc. 5-7), and the Missionary Discourse (ch. 10). Notice two things about Jesus during this storm. First, our Lord is asleep, he’s not bothered one bit by the chaos of creation. Second, at his word of command the chaotic creation (the sea) turns calm and peaceful.

Matthew depicts this miraculous scene in a way that should evoke for the careful reader how God created the cosmos in Genesis. How so? We read in Genesis 1:2, “the earth was without form or shape, with darkness over the abyss and a mighty wind sweeping over the waters.” Can’t you almost see the chaotic Sea of Galilee in that description? What happens next? God gives a simple command – “Let there be light, and there was light (Gn. 1:3) – and he shatters the darkness. In the same way Jesus, the Son of God, possesses absolute and unimpeded command and control over creation. In other words, Genesis and Matthew both describe how the Creator speaks and his creation obeys.

Now that you know how to hit for the wall as well as play small ball with the Bible, let’s try to hit a homerun in our spiritual life with the help of the Scripture. Seeing that creation today seems to be experiencing chaos, a friend sent me this text: “Fires, earthquakes, pandemics and now locusts!” Like many people, she wondering: “Is this the end of the world?” That is, just like the waters of the abyss in Gen. 1 and the Sea of Galilee in Mt. 8, so the natural world today seems to be in tumult and topsy-turvy. We cry out like the frightened apostles, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”

But instead of looking at ourselves or even at the world, we should look at the Lord. We should observe carefully and imitate exactly his attitude and actions. He is unperturbed, indeed, he is asleep. Why? He is the Creator who has complete command over his creation. And that awareness that he can calm the troubled waters of the world should also calm our troubled hearts. That should make us feel far more calm and confident than when might Casey came up to bat, because now, it’s Christ at bat.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Educational Emails

Consulting the faithful in matters of doctrine

06/29/2020

2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18 I, Paul, am already being poured out like a libation, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have longed for his appearance. The Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the proclamation might be completed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat and will bring me safe to his heavenly Kingdom. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Sometimes emails I receive from my parishioners can be very educational. That is, I learn a lot from the laity. This particular parishioner was alarmed by an article in the Arkansas Catholic diocesan newspaper entitled, “Trump Tweets: ‘Honored’ by Vigano Letter.” Did you see that article in last week’s paper? The petitioner had several concerns and questions about the article, but he boiled it all down to one, asking: “Is this the official view of the Catholic Church?”

His concern came from the impression given by including the article in the official diocesan paper without any further clarification of the matter. In other words, was Archbishop Vigano’s various assertions about the pandemic being political, a deep state conspiracy, the so-called “children of darkness,” and freemasons what the Catholic Church official taught? Clearly, this Catholic parishioner disagreed with Archbishop Vigano’s letter, and I agreed with the parishioner’s disagreement.

This parishioner’s email reminded me of John Henry Newman’s landmark essay in 1859 called “On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine.” Newman insisted that lay people play an essential role in handing on the authentic tradition of the Church. When one archbishop haughtily scoffed: “Who are the laity anyway?” Newman rejoined: “The Church would look very foolish without them.” In other words, shepherds would look foolish if there were no sheep.

But more to the point, Newman saw the lay people as a “mirror” in which the clergy would look and learn things about themselves and even the faith. He wrote: “Well, I suppose a person may consult his glass (British for mirror), and in that way may know things about himself which he can learn in no other way.” That’s like how I might need you to tell me if I have food on my face when we eat dinner. That was the net effect of this parishioner’s email: to point out the food on the face of Archbishop Vigano’s letter. Maybe it was a pie.

Today is the feast day of the two great pillars of the Church: Sts. Peter and Paul. I love to see the larger-than-life statues of Peter and Paul welcoming pilgrims in the piazza of St. Peter’s Basilica. These two apostles were likewise larger-than-life in the history of the Church. This feast not only highlights how big they were, but also that they were brothers in the faith, who loved the Lord more than life itself. So, we read Paul’s words in 2 Tim. 4:6, “I, Paul, am already being poured out like a libation, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have competed well. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.”

Today, traditionally, newly appointed archbishops travel to Rome to receive their pallium – a wide, white collar woven from sheep’s wool – from the hands of the Holy Father. That ancient gesture is supposed to symbolize the close fraternal relationship between Peter and Paul, brothers in the faith. Modern pope and bishops, therefore, should be brothers in the faith and collaborate closely to build up the Kingdom.

That brings me back to the educational email from my parishioner. In it, he also asked: “Isn’t the former Archbishop Carlos Maria Vigano the one who asked Pope Francis to resign?” Do you recall that bold assertion and implicit accusation? Again, this pious parishioner was pointing out more pie on the face of the clergy – like when prelates fight in public – and being a good mirror like John Henry Newman described the function of the laity.

Maybe that is the deeper reason for this annual feast day: to ask the laity to pray for the clergy, especially those called to the highest ranks of Church leadership, as pope and bishop. Sometimes lay persons perceive the genuine faith with an instinct that comes from the Holy Spirit. Sometimes the laity catch what the clergy fumble. And they express that instinctive faith in educational emails. So, keep the emails coming, even if I do not like them, and especially if I do not like them.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Battalion of Sorrows

Transforming ordinary suffering into extraordinary sacrifice

06/28/2020

Matthew 10:37-42 Jesus said to his apostles: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. "Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because the little one is a disciple— amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.”

We have all had to make sacrifices lately during this pandemic. I recently received a list of such sacrifices with a touch of humor. For example, this is the first time in history we can save the human race by lying in front of the T.V. and doing nothing. Big sacrifice. Here’s the definition of irony: gas under two dollars a gallon and no place to go! That’s a serious sacrifice. Homeschooling is going well: so far two students expelled for fighting, one teacher fired for drinking on the job. That reminds me of one store that had a neon sign recently that read: “Get all your back to school supplies here!” It was a liquor store. Since everyone has started washing their hands, like we’re supposed to, next week we will start working on shapes and colors. Maybe we should close down the media for 30 days and watch 80% of the world’s problems go away. All are sacrifices, some big and some small.

But do you know the original meaning of the word sacrifice? Sacrifice is a compound of two Latin words: “sacra” meaning “holy and “facere” meaning “to make.” Sacrifice, therefore, is to make something holy offering it to God. In other words, sacrifices might not only be touched by humor, they can also be touched by holiness, because they make us holy. St. Paul writes in Romans 12:1, “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” When I stub my toe on the edge of the bed in the morning, I try to exclaim, “Praised be Jesus Christ!” (instead of exploding with some expletive), and suddenly, my suffering turns into sacrifice. Every time he drove by a hospital, Archbishop Fulton Sheen would let out a deep sigh as he saw all that wasted suffering not becoming a sacrifice, helping suffering patients become saints.

In the gospel today, Jesus also suggests that we not squander our sufferings. But rather, we should transform them into sacrifices that help us to be holy. He admonishes: “Whoever finds his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” The operative words are “for my sake,” that is, only if we lose our life for the Lord’s sake, for love of him, do we find true life. In other words, dying doesn’t make you holy, only when you die for God, do you become a martyr and saint. Stubbing my toe on the edge of the bed, does not make me holy, but only when I say, “Praised be Jesus Christ!” It’s the inner motivation of the heart that triggers and transforms suffering into sacrifice, so we become “living sacrifices acceptable to God, our spiritual worship.”

My friends, sooner or later, we will all suffer, but not all of us will sacrifice, and that should make us sigh deeply like Fulton Sheen did, seeing wasted suffering. Sometimes, our suffering may be great like contracting pancreatic cancer or COVID-19 and end up on a ventilator or lose a job or experience a divorce. At other times, our suffering may be small, like being the butt of a joke or a gnawing toothache, or a flat tire or no football this fall (that might be a big suffering). The question is not if we will suffer, but when and how much. As Shakespeare said: “When sorrows come, they come not single spies / But in battalions” (Hamlet, IV, 5).

But here’s the good news about suffering. Suffering can be turned into sacrifice every time we unite our pains and problems to the suffering of Christ on the Cross. How do our sufferings become part of Christ’s perfect sacrifice on the Cross? I thought you’d never ask! You bring them to the Mass and lay them on the altar. At Mass we join our sorrows to Jesus’ sacrifice. That’s why the priest says right in the middle of Mass, “Pray, brothers and sisters, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God the Almighty Father.” The priest’s sacrifice is the bread and wine. Where’s your sacrifice? It’s that “battalion of sorrows” you endured last week. On the altar of the Mass, God turns ordinary sufferings of Christians into the extraordinary sacrifice of Christ. That is how God makes this pandemic serve his purposes, as an instrument of our sanctification, our spiritual worship.

Let me conclude with a quotation from Romans 8, which shows how this “battalion of sorrows” becomes an army of angels leading us to victory in the spiritual life, that is, making us holy. It is said that if all the 16 chapters of Romans are precious stones on a crown, then Romans 8 is the central diadem, the central jewel that shines brightest. St. Paul asks rhetorically in Rom. 8: 35, 37: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or nakedness, or peril or sword?...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” That is, all these sufferings serve the Lord’s purpose to make us saints, if only every time we suffer, instead of exploding with expletives, we say:

“Praised be Jesus Christ!”

A Fable Agreed Upon

Seeing how Church history is written by Holy Spirit

06/27/2020

Matthew 5:13-19 Jesus said to his disciples: "You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.

It is sometimes said that “history is written by the victors.” The great testament to Church history written by Dan Brown called “The DaVinci Code” asserted: “History is always written by the winners. When two cultures clash the loser is obliterated and the winner writes the history books – books which glorify their own cause and disparage the conquered foe. As Napoleon once said: ‘What is history, but a fable agreed upon’.” The implication in that aphorism is that if certain wars and elections and controversies had gone the other way – if the losers had been the winners – then they would have authored the history, and the world would be a different place.

Perhaps that’s partly what lies behind the modern movement to take down statues and monuments that memorialize a part of America’s history. Some people feel history was written by the victors and it was woefully one-sided. That is, history needs to be rewritten. Even though the Civil War was fought to end slavery and the 13th Amendment was passed to abolish slavery, many African-Americans still feel like “the conquered foe” because “history was written by the victors.” Who writes the history books, therefore, is not an abstract question for academics, but a burning question parading through the streets today.

That question must be understood in an entirely different light, however, when we look at writing Church history. That is, we need the light of the Holy Spirit who guides the history of the People of God, like the pillar of fire guided the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt as we read in Ex. 13:21. In other words, the true “author” of Church history is not the human winners or the even the losers but rather God in his divine providence. Church history is not merely “a fable agreed upon” as Napoleon naively thought, but the faith lived out through the centuries, a faith deepened and developed by the hand of the Holy Spirit.

We see a perfect illustration of the hand of the Holy Spirit writing Church history in the feast day we celebrate today of St. Cyril of Alexandria. St. Cyril (376 – 444 A.D.) was the contemporary of St. Augustine and St. Jerome, and the Patriarch of Alexandria in Egypt. He was clearly the victor at the third ecumenical council of Ephesus in 431 that declared that the Blessed Virgin Mary was the “theotokos,” a Greek word meaning “God-bearer.” But like all authentic doctrines of our faith, that title of Mary is rooted in our belief about Jesus. We affirm that Jesus is truly God and truly man, and that if Mary is his Mother, then she must be the Mother of God.

Every January 1, we celebrate precisely this feast of Mary, the Mother of God, thanks to St. Cyril, the winner of the Council of Ephesus. My larger point, though, is that the outcome was not an accident of history, like Lincoln’s winning the election of 1861. Rather, that outcome was an outpouring of the love and light of the Holy Spirit guiding the Church into all truth, as Jesus assured us in John 16:13. The pillar of fire that led the Israelites in the desert still leads the Church today in the desert of this world. In other words, the history of the Church is not written by the winners or the losers, but by the Holy Spirit.

Now let me bring this point a little closer to home, indeed, into our very hearts. Who is writing the history of your life? If we are not careful, we can conclude like Dan Brown, that the winners are writing that history. If my spouse wins the argument, then she writes my history. If I lose my job then my boss writes my history. If I cannot overcome this cancer, then this illness writes my history. If we cannot oust Fr. John as pastor of I.C. then he will write our history! And all that may be true on a superficial level: that other authors write a line or two on the pages of our history. But if we are people of faith, then we can perceive another author who pens the pages of our lives, namely, the Holy Spirit. Our history is not written by winners or losers but by the love of God.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen wrote his masterful autobiography called “Treasure in Clay.” But he readily admitted that his personal history was penned by the Holy Spirit on the Cross of Christ. The Cross of Jesus Christ is the Prologue of our personal history, and it will likewise by the Epilogue and final word. On the Cross, Jesus was both the victor and the vanquished, but the Holy Spirit was the author of his history.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Seriously Funny

Balancing humor, holiness, and humility in judgments

06/22/2020

Matthew 7:1-5 Jesus said to his disciples: “Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’ while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.”

Lawyers are usually the last people we expect to make us laugh. What could be more dry and dull than to read a legal defense? Surprisingly, therefore, as I recently read the landmark Supreme court case, “Obergefell v. Hodges,” I found myself laughing out loud. That case legalized same-sex marriage, which is no laughing matter, but Antonin Scalia’s dissenting opinion was delightful. First, he quoted a statement from the majority decision approving same-sex marriage, and then he proceeded to dissect it and discredit it. Regardless of your personal feelings about the decision, you might enjoy his dissent.

The late supreme wrote, quoting the majority: “The nature of marriage is that, through its enduring bond, two persons together can find other freedoms, such as expression, intimacy and spirituality.” Then Scalia sarcastically asked: “Really? Who ever thought that intimacy and spirituality [whatever that means] were freedoms? And if intimacy is, one would think Freedom of Intimacy is abridged rather than expanded by marriage. Ask the nearest hippie.” He goes on: “Expression, sure enough is a freedom, but anyone in a long-lasting marriage will attest that that happy state constricts, rather than expands, what one can prudently say.” Can all the men here please give me an Amen!? My point here is that all wise lawyers always maintain a healthy sense of humor. Even if they take their job seriously, they do not take themselves too seriously.

June 22 is the feast of St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher. St. Thomas More was a towering figure in his day as Lord Chancellor, even though he was locked up in the Tower of London before being beheaded for treason to the king. To be the Lord Chancellor of England is roughly equivalent to the American Supreme Court, like Judge Antonin Scalia. Indeed, both men were devout Catholics who took their jobs seriously but not themselves. St. Thomas More is said to have quipped as he lay his head down on the chopping block, “Do take pity on my beard. After all, it has not committed treason.” Somewhat more soberly, he is said to have remarked: “I die the king’s good servant, but God’s first.” In other words, all wise lawyers keep a good sense of humor but also a sharp sense of holiness and even humility, because they know that in the end, God gets the last laugh.

In the gospel today, Jesus gives a little legal advice to all lawyers, and indeed to everyone about exercising care when you judge someone. A Supreme Court justice or a Lord Chancellor might call Jesus’ advice “legal restraint.” Jesus, the just Judge of all, says: “Stop judging that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.” I think the real benefit of a little levity in the legal realm is it allows us to judge with a light touch, rather than a heavy hand. That is, even if we treat the subject matter, like same-sex marriage or high treason of a king, with all seriousness and sobriety, we do not take ourselves too seriously. We realize we are not perfect judges, that we often err, and ultimately, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God, who alone judges justly.

My friends, sooner or later, we are all thrust into the role of judge, and have to declare our opinions on weighty matters. When we cast our ballet in local or national elections, we judge the direction our county or our country should go. When we raise our children and discipline them for good or bad actions, we stand in judgment on their behavior. When we kneel in confession we become our own judge, jury and executioner in our own moral and spiritual case. In a sense, we cannot avoid judging all together. We, too, must render a verdict like Antonin Scalia and Thomas More.

But maybe we can judge with a lot of humor, a little holiness and even a dose of humility. Why? Because the last tribunal of justice is not the Supreme Court of the United States, or the Lord Chancellor of England. Rather, it is the throne of God, which the Scriptures remind us in Exodus 25 and Hebrews 9, is the seat of mercy.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Love at Second Sight

Loving Jesus by knowing the two Testaments

06/23/2020

Matthew 7:6, 12-14 Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces. “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the Law and the Prophets. “Enter through the narrow gate; or the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.”

I am not a big believer in love at first sight. Why? Well, because I am a big believer in the ancient maxim “you cannot love that which you do not know.” Let me explain. When you fall in love at first sight, you only love the surface of the person, not the heart, the bones and sinew, which is the real, flesh and blood person. Every day that I work in the marriage tribunal with annulment cases, I see people who fell in love at first sight, they have the fairy tale wedding. But that love didn’t last. Why? Well, as the years went by in their marriage, they really got to know each other, including their faults and failings, and they fell out of love. You cannot love that which you do not know – at least not for very long.

That holds true whether we’re talking about your spouse or about your Savior. That is, you cannot say you love Jesus without knowing Jesus. That conviction inspired St. Paul to write in Phil. 3:8, “I consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Not many could say they knew the Lord better than the great apostle to the Gentiles, St. Paul. The more Paul knew Jesus, the more he loved Jesus.

So, how do we get to know Christ better? One excellent way is to study Scripture. In his commentary on Isaiah, St. Jerome famously wrote: “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” Notice Jerome wrote that comment while reflecting on the Old Testament book of Isaiah. To know Christ, therefore, we must study the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. Sometimes we might think: who wants to know the blood-thirsty God of the Old Testament, who wants wars and killing, when we have the merciful, meek and mild Jesus of the New Testament? Such a statement only reveals our “ignorance of Scripture” and hence our ignorance of Christ. And that is precisely why every Mass has readings from both the Old Testament and the New Testament; it is the same God who saves his people in both.

The gospel today invites us to know Jesus through both Old and New Testaments: to marry the two Testaments. Let me explain a little phrase Jesus uses that really packs a punch. In summary of his Sermon on the Mount, he says: “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.” Then he adds: “This is the Law the Prophets.” That little phrase “Law and Prophets” is a merism. There’s a twenty-five cent word you can use to impress your friends at cocktail parties. What is a merism? That is a figure of speech that uses individual parts to indicate a larger whole. For instance, if someone says, “she fought the attacker tooth and nail to protect her children,” the phrase “tooth and nail” is a merism meaning she used all her strength. Of, if someone says: “I searched high and low for my missing keys,” the terms “high and low” is a merism meaning searching everywhere. So, too, the phrase “Law and Prophets” are only two parts of the larger whole of the Old Testament.

Did you know, though, that there are actually three parts of the Old Testament, called the TANAK? TANAK stands for three words in Hebrew: Torah (Law), Nevi’im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings). But Jesus says “Law and Prophets” as a merism, a summary of the whole Old Testament by two of its constituent parts. In other words, you cannot just love the Jesus of the New Testament and turn your nose up at the God of the Old Testament. The God of the Old Testament IS the God of the New Testament. Only someone woefully ignorant of Scripture (and therefore ignorant of Christ) would dare to drive a wedge between those two Testaments, to divorce the Old and the New.

My friends, how fervent is your love for Jesus these days? Like the marriages I deal with at the tribunal did you fall in love with the Lord with a love at first sight, but the fire of that love has gone out over the years? Has the fairy tale ended in divorce? Maybe the problem is you never really knew the Lord. That is, an ignorance of scripture led to an ignorance of Christ. Well, here’s the good news: it’s never too late to fall in love with the Lord again. St. Augustine taught in his classic work, The City of God, “Tell me what a people loves and I shall tell you what it is.” And remember you cannot love what you do not know.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

God's Facebook

Raising our love to the level of God’s love

06/19/2020

1 John 4:7-16 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us. This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us of his Spirit. Moreover, we have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world. Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God. We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.

If you want to learn what people love – their passions and their priorities – just scroll through their Facebook posts. There you will discover pictures of cute babies and even cuter grandbabies, you’ll see sunsets and sandy beaches, pictures of moonlight and the perfect margarita, diatribes about donning masks and disgust about too much government control (so don’t wear masks), lectures about racism and lessons from the real world. And above all, you will find wildly popular pictures about people’s pets. Fr. Matt Garrison posts a picture of his dog Jonas and immediately gets 350 likes, while I post a homily and hardly get 50 likes. That is so unfair! Maybe I should post a homily together with a picture of his dog?

What I enjoy about these Facebook posts is they all give us a peek into people’s hearts. That is, they uncover a corner of what we care about, what we love. Of course, my posts reveal a little of my heart, too, that I share my homilies, and events at the parish, and at our Catholic schools: Immaculate Conception and Trinity Junior High. These are the things I love. It also reveals that I probably need to get a pet.

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which always falls on the Friday after the second Sunday after Pentecost. Today’s feast is about the love of Jesus. If we want to discover what makes our Lord’s Sacred Heart skip a beat, we might ask what he would post on his Facebook page. What posts would pop up on God’s Facebook? Well, I don’t really know what he would personally post, but I think he would “like” all our posts. But there would be this decisive difference. His love for our passions and priorities would be perfect, whereas our loves are always imperfect.

What does that mean? C. S. Lewis explained the difference like this: “The Divine ‘goodness’ differs from ours, but it is not sheerly different: it differs from ours not as white from black, but as a perfect circle from a child’s first attempt to draw a wheel” (The Problem of Pain, 30). In other words, all our loves plastered in posts on our Facebook pages are like a child’s first attempt to draw a wheel, whereas God’s love is the perfect circle of love. Indeed, the Holy Trinity can be imagined as a perfect circle of love among the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Hence, we read in 1 John 4:10: “In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he has loved us.” God’s love, therefore, is perfect; our loves are a work in progress.

My friends, on this Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus please ask yourself two questions. First, what does Jesus love? And second, what do I love? As well as the follow up question: what’s the difference? We can quickly find an answer to the second question of our own loves by checking the last ten posts on our Facebook page, where we publish for the whole world our passions and our priorities. And if we remember Lewis’ analogy that our posts are like a child’s first attempt to draw a wheel, we can start to surmise what Jesus might post on his Facebook page. That is, he would post the prefect circle of divine Love, purified and purged of our selfishness, our ego, our pride, our fears, our jealousies, our resentment, our hatred, our righteous anger, and so on. These things make our loves childish and our wheels wobbly, and that's the difference between his love and ours.

In a few moments we will receive Holy Communion and taste a little of that love that beats in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Ask him to purify your love so it becomes a little more like his, so your child’s circle is a little more well-rounded. And next time you post something on Facebook, remember: you’re not learning what other's "like" as much as sharing what you love.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Fathering the Future

Taking responsibility of raising the next generation

06/17/2020

2 Kings 2:1, 6-14 When the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, he and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here; the LORD has sent me on to the Jordan.” “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you,” Elisha replied. And so the two went on together. Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up and struck the water, which divided, and both crossed over on dry ground. When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask for whatever I may do for you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha answered, “May I receive a double portion of your spirit.” “You have asked something that is not easy,” Elijah replied. “Still, if you see me taken up from you, your wish will be granted; otherwise not.” As they walked on conversing, a flaming chariot and flaming horses came between them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. When Elisha saw it happen he cried out, “My father! my father! Israel’s chariots and drivers!” But when he could no longer see him, Elisha gripped his own garment and tore it in two. Then he picked up Elijah’s mantle that had fallen from him, and went back and stood at the bank of the Jordan.

Most of the lessons we learned in the seminary we sadly forget, going in one ear and out the other. Occasionally, however, something sticks, becoming like the grain of sand in an oyster shell slowly growing into a pearl of great price. One such lesson was a comment a priest made that has come back to my mind again and again. He said that the job of every priest before he dies is to inspire another young man to be a priest and take his place. Most Catholic priests are celibate so this duty is doubly difficulty since it must be one of YOUR sons whom we must inspire to be a priest and take our place. Everyone loves to promote vocations as long as it’s the neighbor’s son whose vocation we promote, not MY son. My son will get married and give me grandchildren. So, our task is more tricky than it sounds.

Msgr. William Galvin, the legendary pastor of Immaculate Conception, “galvanized” many young priests. But these men were already minted as priests when they arrived in Fort Smith. Msgr. Galvin’s job was to polish their priestly halos and put some spit-shine on them. Some needed more spit than others. It’s quite another matter to take the raw material of a young man and fashion a future spiritual father, like a potter works with clay, as it says in Jeremiah 18:1-4. In the twenty-four years I have been a priest I often ask myself if I have inspired a young man to be a priest and take my place. I have certainly been privileged to work with many fine men, like Ben Riley this summer, but that is not quite the same as giving birth to a future, brother-priest. In a sense, that is the pearl of great price of every priest’s life, and maybe my spiritual progeny is still slowly growing in the oyster shell.

In the second book of Kings, we see exactly this kind of spiritual fathering of the next generation between Elijah and Elisha. In 2 Kings 2, Elijah is taken up into heaven in a whirlwind, a fiery chariot. But he doesn’t leave earth until he has fulfilled the task of inspiring another young prophet, Elisha, to take his place. How does Elisha symbolically take over as Elijah’s successor? We read: “Then [Elisha] picked up Elijah’s mantle that had fallen from him, and went back and stood at the bank of the Jordan.” Indeed, Elisha is given a “double portion” of the spirit of Elijah. Whereas Elijah performed eight mighty miracles, Elisha will perform sixteen extraordinary miracles, exactly double. In other words, a priest’s and prophet’s task is not only to inspire someone to take their place – to wear their mantle – but also to be greater than them, to do more mighty deeds than they did.

My friends, how do you define success in life? What are you trying accomplish before you leave this earth? Does success consist of climbing to the top of the company ladder, or maybe if that company is the Church, to become a bishop or pope? Or perhaps your definition includes financial security and early retirement. Or you may even aim for altruistic ends like curing cancer or putting an end to poverty. Those are all admirable achievements, but they all have one fatal flaw: they expire when you expire.

Instead, I would suggest to you that it is not only priests and prophets who must inspire the next generation to take their place. We must all sit at the spindle and get our hands dirty like the potter who slowly fashions the clay. In the past few weeks, I have watched the violent acts of racism and then the scenes of vandalism and violence that ensued in the protests. I couldn’t help but wonder: this is the next generation we are raising to take our place. Racists are not born racists, and violent young men are not born violent young men, just like priests and prophets are not born to be such. Someone has fathered them to take their place when those father-figures pass from this world.

In other words, someone is always fashioning and forming the clay of the next generation to take their place. And if that is not you, then who?

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Horeb Is Sinai

Seeing how one mountain goes by two names

06/12/2020

1 Kings 19:9A, 11-16 At the mountain of God, Horeb, Elijah came to a cave, where he took shelter. But the word of the LORD came to him, “Go outside and stand on the mountain before the LORD; the LORD will be passing by.” A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the LORD— but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake— but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was fire— but the LORD was not in the fire. After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance of the cave.

It is said that a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet. That suggests that the sweetness of a rose comes not from its name, but from its nature; from what is it, not what it is called. Now, could the same be said of a mountain? That is, could a mountain by any other name be still as sacred, sort of sweet with God’s glory, we might say. Well, that is precisely what you find when you pay close attention reading the Sacred Scriptures with Mt. Sinai and Mt. Horeb.

Throughout the Old Testament there is one mountain that goes by two names but always refers to the same mountain, and it is the mountain of God, where the Old Testament saints always smelled the sweetness of God’s glory. Maybe that’s why so many people today are fascinated with mountain climbing and even scaling rock walls like Spiderman, like our seminarian, Ben Riley loves to do. They, too, want to ascend a mountain to meet God and to smell the sweetness of his glory.

In the first reading from 1 Kings 19, we read about this sacred, sweet mountain: “At the mountain of God, Horeb, Elijah came to a cave where he took shelter.” And what transpires atop Mt. Horeb? Elijah meets God. We continue reading: “The word of the Lord came to him ‘Go outside and stand on the mountain before the Lord: the Lord will be passing by.” Elijah encounters the Lord in a “tiny whispering sound,” a small sweet sound. A little earlier in 1 Kings we learn it took Elijah a journey of forty days to arrive at Mt. Horeb, just like it took Moses and the Israelites forty days to arrive at Mt. Sinai, after crossing the Red Sea.

You might recall it was on Mt. Horeb that Moses met God in the burning bush in Exodus 3:1-6. Almost 1800 years later, St. Helen, the mother of Emperor Constantine, ordered a church should be built to commemorate the site of the burning bush on Mt. Sinai/Mt. Horeb. In other words, the saints have always smelled the sweetness of God on mountains, regardless of their names. The mountain of God, like a rose, smells the same, thanks to its nature, not its name.

My friends, where do we find the mountain of God today, so that we too can enjoy the sweet fragrance of God’s grace? We do not have to trudge forty days and forty nights to Mt. Horeb/Mt. Sinai. WE find the mountain of the Lord right here at the Mass. How is that? Well, remember where Jesus was crucified: on a mountain top, on Golgotha, a peak on Mt. Moriah. I’ll never forget Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s dramatic description of the sacrifice of the Mass. He said it’s as if an unseen hand tore the tree of the Cross of Christ out of the ground of Golgotha, carried it across time, and transplanted it on every altar around the world: in Tokyo, in London, in New York, in Fort Smith. (Yes, he actually said Fort Smith.)

You and I are mystically present, therefore, on Mt. Moriah at the foot of the cross with Mary and John beholding the sweet love of Jesus. Every Mass is the spiritual equivalent of a mountain climb to the top of Mt. Moriah, also known as Mt. Zion (two names, same sweetness!), where the saints still smell the sweetness of God’s glory, like Moses, Elijah and St. Helen. We travel to Mt. Moriah at every Mass, or rather the sacred Mountain of God comes to us.

The modern fascination with mountain climbing and scaling rock walls is really a very ancient fascination: the desire to come close to God. You and I can enjoy the exhilaration of a spiritual mountain climb every morning when we come to Mass. That is why Hebrews 12:22 reads: “You have approached Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and countless angels in festal gathering.” And there is no rose on earth that smells as sweet as that.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Chef Ben

Learning to cook with faith, hope, love and mercy

06/09/2020

Matthew 5:13-16 Jesus said to his disciples: “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”

Cooking is a fine art. And when it comes to the art of cooking, I love being an art critic. In other words, I would much rather consume a great meal than have to cook the meal. This summer we are blessed to have Ben Riley with us as a seminarian, and he loves to cook. And I love to let him cook. We have another “Chef Ben” in Fort Smith! He boiled down the secret of cooking in this way. He said: “You can master the art of cooking if you can learn how to balance four things: salt, sugar, butter and heat. All great chefs know how to play with those four key ingredients.” Last week Ben prepared a breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage, avocado toast and coffee made from fresh ground beans. I had to give him the Michelin five star rating!

Our scriptures today also speak about the art of cooking, but in the kitchen of the spiritual life. In other words, what are the key ingredients we need to be “saints,” to be a sort of “gourmet meal” for God? If that image sounds a little cannibalistic, I borrowed it from St. Ignatius of Antioch in 108 A.D. On his way to martyrdom in Rome, he wrote to his parishioners: “I am the wheat of God. And let me be ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of Christ.” That is, the gourmet meal of martyrs does not balance salt, sugar, butter and heat, but rather faith, hope, love and mercy.

Jesus says in the gospel of Matthew: “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?” That is, one ingredient of holiness is the salt of good works that spiritually nourishes others and gives flavor to our faith. And in 1 Kings 17, Elijah asks a widow of Zerepath to make him a little cake, saying: “First make me a little cake and bring it to me.” I’m sure Elijah gave the widow a Michelin 5-star rating, too, for the meal that saved his life. In other words, the whole Christian enterprise can be seen as the art of fine cooking, where we cannot sit back comfortably and be an art critic and let someone else do the cooking. Rather, we have to get into the kitchen and do some cooking ourselves; indeed, where the meal is our own lives so we become “the pure bread of Christ.”

What are the basic ingredients we have to balance (like Chef Ben said) to earn a 5-star Michelin rating for our Christian culinary skills? I believe these key ingredients are faith, hope, love (as St. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13:13), and the fourth ingredient is mercy, as Pope Francis frequently reminds us. I am probably pushing the limits of this analogy, but we might even say that faith is like the salt, hope is like the sugar, love is like the butter and mercy is like the heat of every gourmet meal. And Christian gourmet chefs do not prepare beef, chicken, pork or lamb for their entrée, but rather they prepare themselves. St. Ignatius entered the kitchen that was the Roman Colosseum to make of himself “the pure bread of Christ.”

You and I enter the kitchen of this world and through our faith, hope, love and mercy make ourselves a meal for others and for God. Sometimes in this kitchen, however, the people over salt us with their criticisms and complaints. We get burned by the heat of people’s anger and ire. We grow lazy with too much lard in our butts. Or sometimes people are too sweet and hide the truth from us. Their compliments are saccharine. In other words, mastering Christianity is like mastering the art of cooking. In Christianity we balance faith, hope, love and mercy; in cooking we juggle salt, sugar, butter and heat. And we are all hoping to receive a 5-star rating.

I am looking forward to my next meal with Chef Ben. But I am also looking forward to his ordination as a priest, where he will make a meal of his whole life, and become “the pure bread of Christ.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!

And Baby Makes Three

Enjoying instead of explaining the mystery of the Trinity

06/07/2020

2 Corinthians 13:11-13 Brothers and sisters, rejoice. Mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the holy ones greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.

Today is the feast of the Holy Trinity, the central mystery of our faith, and maybe the most mysterious of all the mysteries of our faith! Not even the intellectual giant, St. Augustine, could unravel it’s complexity. The story is told that while the Doctor of Grace was writing his book De Trinitate (On the Trinity), he took a break to walk along the beach. He could not crack the code of how God could be one God and yet three divine persons. Suddenly, he came upon a little child sitting by the seashore. The child had dug a hole in the sand, and with a small shell was scooping water from the sea and depositing it into the small hole.

Augustine watched for a while and finally asked the child what he was doing. The child answered that he intended to scoop all the water from the sea and pour it into the little hole in the sand. “What?” Augustine said. “That’s impossible. Obviously, the sea is too large and the hole is too small.” The child replied: “Indeed, but I will sooner draw all the water from the sea and empty it into this hole before you will succeed in penetrating the mystery of the Holy Trinity with your limited understanding.” Augustine turned away in amazement and when he looked back the child had disappeared. A small child had put the spiritual giant in his place. Amazing how the simple and child-like often have a way of humbling those who are too sophisticated.

Let me suggest another way that story illustrates that the Trinity is like the water of the immense ocean. The fish who swim in the ocean take that water for granted. It is all around them. They breathe it through their gills. It provides their food and their fun. Fish don’t reflect on the water in which they swim. So the scriptures take the Holy Trinity sort of for granted without any explicit explanations. Genesis 18 describes three mysterious strangers who visit Abraham, often thought to be a manifestation of the Trinity. No further explanation.

The second letter to the Corinthians concludes with this Trinitarian farewell: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” No further explanation. The gospel of Matthew ends with the great commission and command to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. No more explanation. In other words, long before theologians would define the Holy Trinity as a dogma, the scripture sort of swims in the Holy Trinity like a fish in the ocean depths. Indeed, St. Paul described God in Acts 17:28 as the One in whom “we live and move and have our being.”

Today, instead of trying to solve the mystery of the Holy Trinity, I would like to suggest three ways we, too, can swim like fish in the sea of the Trinity so splash in its waves like a child by the sea. One place we find the Trinity around is actually inside of us, that is, stamped in our souls. The soul has three faculties: the mind, the will and the memory. Within the soul, the mind is like the Father, the will is like the Son, and the memory is like the Holy Spirit. After all, Genesis 1:26 says we are created in God’s image and likeness, so we should not be surprised to find a snapshot of the Trinity stamped on our souls. The Trinity is not just outside us like the ocean, but inside us and closer to us than we are to ourselves, as Augustine said (Confessions, III.6.11).

Secondly, do you ever think of our government as a reflection of the Holy Trinity? Maybe I should just leave the “holy” off that description, and just call it a “trinity”! The ideal government balances the executive branch, the legislative branch and the judicial branch all working together for the common good. In this analogy, the Father is like the legislative branch who gives us the law, the Son is the executive branch who shows us how to obey the law, and the Holy Spirit is the judicial branch that helps us to interpret the laws down the ages in unique circumstances. What fortunate fish we are to swim freely in this American ocean!

The third example of the Holy Trinity might not only surprise you, it may even scandalize you. You better sit down for this one. In a new book called The First Society, Scott Hahn made an audacious claim, saying: “There is virtually nothing we do exteriorly in the order of nature that makes us more like God than sex.” Did you catch that? Sex makes us God-like. How so? Hahn explains: “Nothing reflects the Trinity in the same way as marital love and intimacy, where the two persons ‘become one flesh’ (Gen. 2:24; Mk. 19:8) and, God willing, a third person issues forth and embodies that communion” (The First Society, 93). In other words, it’s like that old adage: “You and me and baby makes three.” Every family should be an ocean of love that deeply and devoutly reflects the triune love of God.

Lastly, the Trinity gives us a timely example of unity in diversity, which our world desperately needs in the face of racism. Each Person of the Holy Trinity is unique and special, and yet they co-exist in perfect holiness and harmony. Societies that respect their diversity and still maintain their unity are not only great cultures, but also an earthly example of the heavenly unity in diversity found in God. In a sense, racism is the polar opposite of the holiness and harmony of the Holy Trinity. Racism divides whereas the Trinity unites. That’s why racism is to evil.

And who can teach us to overcome racism? I believe small children can, who are born spiritually color-blind. Innocent children are taught racism from cruel and confused adults. So, perhaps small children can teach us adults how to unlearn racism, and to be innocent again, and even spiritually color-blind. Like a small children once taught the mighty Augustine.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Breathe On Me

Allowing bible reading to heal a hurting world

06/05/2020

2 Timothy 3:10-17 You have followed my teaching, way of life, purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, persecutions that I endured. Yet from all these things the Lord delivered me. In fact, all who want to live religiously in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But wicked people and charlatans will go from bad to worse, deceivers and deceived. But you, remain faithful to what you have learned and believed, because you know from whom you learned it, and that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

Several months ago I read a book by Abbot Jerome Kodell (I still call him “abbot”) on Scripture study, where he made a remarkable claim that surprised me. He said that bible study can heal you. More precisely, he wrote: “The day-to-day effects of Bible reading is subtle but real. The divine power does not work only through striking ideas or feelings, so the Bible reader cannot measure the effect of the Scriptures as the spiritual life grows.” Then he drew this conclusion: “But from time to time the transforming power of the word of God is recognized as one’s life becomes more peaceful, joyful and whole” (The Catholic Bible Study Handbook, 26). Can’t you almost hear Abbot Jerome’s calm, comforting voice behind each word?

Catholics contend that the sacraments have healing power, but so do the sacred scriptures, even if not in exactly the same way. And our world today desperately desires healing: from a vicious virus, but also from the ravages of racism. I would suggest to you that one place to find that healing is in scripture study, which, over time, helps us to become more peaceful, joyful and whole.

How does the Holy Bible heal us? That healing and wholeness comes by way of inspiration, which literally means “to breathe into.” Have you ever had to perform CPR on someone, cardio-pulmonary resuscitation? Besides chest compressions to restart the heart, you must also breathe into the mouth of the patient, so that air fills his or her lungs. How reminiscent CPR is of Gen. 2:7, where we read: “Then the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.” That is basically how bible study heals us: God breathes his life and love into our nostrils on every page of the inspired text. God’s breath, his spirit, his pneuma (in Greek), entered Adam and gave him life. Likewise, God’s breath, his spirit, his pneuma, enters us when we turn the pages of scriptures, and we feel “peaceful, joyful and whole.”

St. Paul explains inspiration in his second letter to Timothy, saying: “All Scripture is inspired by God” – breathed into by God – “and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” Part of that “good work” is performing spiritual CPR on a hurting world by bringing the healing of the sacred scriptures. In a sense the world is in need of healing, indeed CPR because of the pandemic and racism, and many other ills plaguing the people. You might say that the sacraments provide the chest compressions by giving God’s grace and divine life, but bible study provides the breath of God to help us all breathe better, like Adam did. In other words, both the devout reception of the sacraments and the assiduous attention to bible study are necessary for the patient of humanity to make a full recovery, to feel “peaceful, joyful and whole.”

My friends, how have you been spending your time in this pandemic? Have you caught up on your Netflix shows that you had put off until you had more time? Have you become a news junkie and kept track of every twist and turn of the tale of this pandemic? Have you remodeled your house, planted a garden, or learned a lot of new recipes? All those things are good ways to spend your free time. But I think there’s a better way: get involved in a bible study program, or simply dedicate 30 minutes a day to quiet, contemplative scripture reading. Why? Because the world is hurting and desperately in need of healing. It would not be an exaggeration to say humanity needs CPR. We are not well. The divine physician needs to make a house call and revive – which means “to make live again” – this patient whose life is slowly ebbing.

Let me conclude with Ethan Hatch’s famous hymn to the Holy Spirit: “Breathe on me, Breath of God, fill me with life anew, that I may love the way you love and do what you would do. Breathe on me, Breath of God, until my heart is pure, until my will is one with yours, to do and to endure. Breathe on me, Breath of God, so shall I never die, but live with you the perfect life, for all eternity.” It is the Holy Spirit, the Breath of God, who makes us feel “peaceful, joyful and whole.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!

A Priest's Mother

Giving thanks for mother’s love on her birthday

06/02/2020

2 Peter 3:12-15A, 17-18 Beloved: Wait for and hasten the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved in flames and the elements melted by fire. But according to his promise we await new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you await these things, be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace. And consider the patience of our Lord as salvation. Therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned, be on your guard not to be led into the error of the unprincipled and to fall from your own stability. But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Today, June 2, is my mom’s birthday, so I just want to take a moment and say “thank you, mom” for so many ways she has blessed my life. A priest always feels a special and intimate connection to his mother, like the closeness between Jesus, the first priest, and his mother, Mary. Who can fathom the depths of their discussions? It’s also because a priest’s mother has no competition for her son’s affection, that is, she doesn’t have to deal with a daughter-in-law. A priest’s mother is always his number one fan. I have a habit of recording my homilies and I always send them to her. She replies with glowing praise of my preaching, no matter how often it puts the people in the pews to sleep. So, I don’t really care what you think; my mom loves my homilies!

In a sense, no one knows a priest better than his mother does. I’ll never forget my mom’s advice when I was ordained. She warned: “Always wear your Roman collar; it will keep you out of trouble.” I wonder what she knew that I didn’t know? And so now, even though people invite me over to dinner and say, “please come casually,” I always wear my Roman collar to dinner. My priestly collar has not always kept me out of trouble, but it sure has helped, and made me think twice before I did something stupid. Sawyer Brown sang: “I gotta thank momma for the cookin’, Daddy for the whuppin’, The devil for the trouble that I get into.”

A priest’s mother is the first person to nurture his priestly vocation, even though she may do it unknowingly. How so? Well, my mother has always been a powerhouse of prayer in our family. She always insisted we get dressed up and go to Mass every Sunday. My mom required the family to sit down and pray every night before we hit the hay. Even now when I go home to visit my parents, it’s my mom who pulls out the rosary every evening and lights the candles on the mantle in front of Jesus and Mary.

Do you think all those fervent prayers failed to produce a rich spiritual harvest, not only in my priestly vocation but in helping my brother and sister, and yes even my father, to stay close to Christ? If you have any doubts about the power of a mother’s prayers, read about St. Monica, who prayed for her wayward son, Augustine, who later became a bishop and one of the most brilliant minds the Church has even known. Mothers never stop praying for their children’s peace and happiness; and I’m grateful that my mother is a powerhouse of prayer for this poor priest.

It should come as no surprise, then, that one of the most ancient and admired images for the Catholic Church, is “Holy Mother Church.” The Church is our spiritual mother, who gives birth to us in baptism, clothes us in Confirmation with the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the armor of God as we read in Ephesians 6, she feeds us with the bread of angels in the Eucharist (even better than chicken curry), she consoles and comforts us in confession and Anointing of the Sick, and she celebrates with us when we marry, and especially when we are ordained as her priests. How do I know that the Church cares for Christians like a good mother? I learned that from my own mother in the tender and yes sometimes tough love that she has shown unceasingly to me and my family.

Our first reading is from the second letter of St. Peter, our first pope. He, above all others, speaks on behalf of Holy Mother Church; that’s his specific responsibility: to be the voice of the Church. It’s easy to hear the voice of my mother in the words of Holy Mother Church, when Peter says: “Therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned, be on your guard not to be led into the error of the unprincipled and to fall from your own stability. But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” Peter’s prayer was also the prayer of Holy Mother Church for all her children. It perfectly echoes my own mother’s prayer for me and our family.

I wouldn’t be the person or the priest I am today if it wasn’t for the love of my mother. Happy birthday, mom! I love you! Do you think she’ll like this homily?

Praised be Jesus Christ!

The Word Woman

Contemplating one word in the Word of God

06/01/2020

John 19:25-34 Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I thirst.” There was a vessel filled with common wine. So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth. When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, “It is finished.” And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.

There are some words in Scripture that really pack a punch; they mean far more than meets the eyes at first glance. One such word is “woman.” Four key passages where we find the word woman is in Genesis, twice in John and Revelation. Remember that scene from the movie, “The Princess Bride,” where Vizini keeps using the word “inconceivable”? And Inigo Montoya complains: “You keep using that word; I do not think it means what you think it means.” (Movies really help you to under the bible!) Well, the Bible keeps using the word “woman,” and it often does not mean what we think it means. Indeed, it means so much more than we could ever “conceive” (pun intended) because the woman (Mary) will conceive Jesus, the Son of God, something we could never conceive.

Our scriptures today offer us two of those four critical occurrences of the word woman. But let’s look quickly at all four of them, because this is after all a weekday Mass and the homily is supposed to be short and sweet. Ha! Not if you’re at a Fr. John Mass, you don’t get off so easily! In Gen. 3:15, Adam blames the woman for the first sin (original sin) but God blesses the woman with the protoevangelion, the first gospel, saying, “I will put enmity between you (Satan) and the woman; you will strike at her heel, and she will strike at your head.” In other words, the woman of Genesis is a larger figure than the fig-wearing Eve; she represents the future woman, Mary, who will conceive the Savior of the world, the “new Adam,” as Paul put it in Rom. 5:12.

Secondly, in John 2 at the wedding at Cana in Galilee, Jesus calls Mary “woman.” If I ever called my mom “woman” she would slap me back to Saturday. But when Jesus says “woman,” it means far more than we think it means, just like it did in Genesis when God the Father uttered the word woman. Mary asks Jesus for the favor of providing more wine for the wedding, and Jesus replies: “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” But that was a Hebrew idiom meaning, “Yes, sure, mom, I’ll take care of it.” Jesus knows that Mary is not just a Jewish mother, she is also the Queen Mother (because Jesus is the king). And just as if Queen Elizabeth asks a favor of Prince Charles, he will likely acquiesce, so too Jesus. In John 2 the woman is the queen mother, who shows a special sway over the King, Jesus, her son.

The third occasion is in today’s gospel is John 19:26, where Jesus is hanging on the cross. He bestows his most prized possession on earth to John, the beloved disciple. He declares: “Woman, behold your son,” and then to John, “Behold, your mother.” That mother-child relationship is larger than between Mary and John, it extends to all the children of the Church, even to me and you. In other words, Jesus says to each of us: “Behold, your mother.” Because each of us is Jesus’ beloved disciple, so to each of us Jesus entrusts his “beloved mother.” Mary is the new Eve, the “mother of all the living,” those who find new life in Christ.

The last great occurrence of the word woman is Rev. 12:1, where we read about another woman. John writes: “A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” Who is the woman of Revelation 12? Well, she is Mary, to be sure. But she is also the people of Israel, from whom the Messiah will come, as Paul asserts in Rom. 9:5. Further, she is also the Church, the Bride of Christ, as will become clear in Rev. 21 and 22, where she will be compared to the holy city, the New Jerusalem.

The Bible, like Vizini, keeps using the same words over and over, like “inconceivable,” and “woman.” But like Inigo Montoya said, “It does not mean what we think it means.” It means so much more than we can conceive. That’s why in 2018, Pope Francis designated the Monday after Pentecost the feast of Mary, Mother of the Church. Why? So that Mary, filled with the Holy Spirit, can teach us how to contemplate the scriptures, which are inspired by the same Holy Spirit. She can help us by her words and example to see how one word, like woman, penetrates the depths of the plan of salvation.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Birther Controversy

Sharing the good news of rebirth by baptism

05/31/2020

1 Corinthians 12:3B-7, 12-13 Brothers and sisters: No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but he same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit. As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.

Several years ago U. S. politics was embroiled in the so-called “birther controversy.” Do you remember hearing about that? The crux of the controversy revolved around the Constitutional requirement to be a natural-born citizen to run for president of the United States. So, I’m out, folks, don’t waste your vote on me! This birther controversy found a new champion recently at Purdue University. Students were discussing the qualification to be president of the United States. It was pretty simple: the candidate had to be a natural-born citizen and at least thirty-five years old.

However, one girl in the class immediately started in on how unfair it was to require a candidate to be a natural-born citizen to run for president. In short, her opinion was that this requirement prevented many capable individuals from becoming president. The class was taking it all in and letting her rant. Finally, she wrapped up her argument by asking adamantly: “And what makes a natural-born citizen any more qualified to lead this country than one born by a C-section?” Yep, these are the bright young minds that roam the halls of higher education in our country. And we should fear for the future of our great nation. Of course, that was all just a joke.

But did you know that there was a sort of “birther controversy” swirling around at the birth of Christianity itself? And that was no joke. At root was the dilemma of whether only those who were Jews could become Christians, or could those who were born in another race or another religion also convert to Christianity? That question may seem irrelevant to us today, where virtually all converts to Christianity are non-Jewish. But realize it was ripping apart the nascent church in the first century. Back then, the requirement to be a Jew in order to become a Christian was analogous to the requirement to be a natural-born citizen to become the U. S. president.

At Pentecost, recorded in the first reading from Acts 2, only Jews and converts to Judaism could thereby become Christian. But by the time St. Paul writes 1st Corinthians, which was during his third missionary journey from 53-58 A.D., he blows away the birther controversy, kind of like that student at Purdue said. He stated: “For in one Spirit we were all baptized, whether Jews or Greeks.” By using the term “Greeks,” Paul was referring to all “non-Jews,” all the “unchosen people” of the world (meaning you and me). In other words, anyone could be a Christian by being born again in baptism, a sort of C-section where the “C” stands for Christ. You have to be born in the U.S. to be the president of the U.S. But it doesn’t matter where you were born to belong to the Body of Christ, the Church, as long as you’re born again by baptism.

My friends, I am convinced that Pentecost makes it a priority for all Christians to abort any kind of birther controversy that may remain hidden in our hearts. That is, sometimes we exclude people from immigrating into our own hearts and we don’t extended to them full citizenship in the country that is called “Fr. John Antony,” that is, we don’t love them completely. I’m sure you’ve heard about the rioting around the country in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, last Monday, May 25. However you may describe his death, it unleashed a torrent of protests around the country from New York to California. Lots of people have gotten involved and some may be taking advantage of the publicity. Nevertheless, it also unmasks the demon of racism that has not been entirely exorcised in our country. I would suggest to you that racism is a form of the birther controversy in each American heart. We have to ask ourselves: whom do I allows to be born in my heart and enjoy full rights of citizenship in me, that is, my total love and acceptance?

Another way Pentecost roots out this birther controversy is helping Catholics overcome our slowness in spreading the faith. We Catholics are notorious in not talking about our faith in public. Have you ever hesitated to make the Sign of the Cross in a restaurant? Don’t worry, I have too. At the first Pentecost, however, Peter spoke proudly and publically about his faith to everyone. Every Catholic should be filled with a desire to convert the whole world to Catholicism, like the first apostles. The twelfth and last step of Alcoholics Anonymous is to share the good news of AA with another alcoholic. If an alcoholic does not share that good news, he or she is still not free from their enslavement to addiction.

Similarly, the whole world is enslaved to sin (like an alcoholic), but we Christians have been set free by baptism and being born again in Christ. Galatians 5:1 reads: “For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.” But if we do not share that Good News of freedom in Christ, we have not fully been set free, and are still slaves, like alcoholics who cannot complete the 12th step. A sort of world-wide birther controversy exists until we have brought everyone to new birth by water and the Holy Spirit, so they enjoy full freedom in Christ.

It’s amazing how much time we spend reading about politics and the birther controversy, and it’s tragic how little time we spend reading about Pentecost and the rebirth of Christianity. We take great pride in our citizenship in the United States, but we take for granted our citizenship in heaven, as St. Paul explained in Phil. 3:20. Pray therefore that this Pentecost you will receive a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit so that you might be on fire for your faith like the apostles. Tell the whole world about the benefits of a “C-section,” being born again in Christ.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

In Other Words

Imitating Jesus as the one we admire most

05/26/2020

Acts of the Apostles 20:17-27 From Miletus Paul had the presbyters of the Church at Ephesus summoned. When they came to him, he addressed them, “You know how I lived among you the whole time from the day I first came to the province of Asia. I served the Lord with all humility and with the tears and trials that came to me because of the plots of the Jews, and I did not at all shrink from telling you what was for your benefit, or from teaching you in public or in your homes. I earnestly bore witness for both Jews and Greeks to repentance before God and to faith in our Lord Jesus. But now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem. What will happen to me there I do not know, except that in one city after another the Holy Spirit has been warning me that imprisonment and hardships await me. Yet I consider life of no importance to me, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the Gospel of God’s grace. “But now I know that none of you to whom I preached the kingdom during my travels will ever see my face again. And so I solemnly declare to you this day that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you, for I did not shrink from proclaiming to you the entire plan of God.”

It is said that imitation is the highest form of flattery. When you really admire and love someone you take on their way of speaking and acting: you imitate them. I’ve noticed this in my preaching style. I would say my preaching is a combination of Archbishop Fulton Sheen, C. S. Lewis, Bishop Robert Barron, G. K. Chesterton and Scott Hahn. These are the speakers and scholars I deeply admire and their words have become my words and even their mannerisms have become my mannerisms.

For example, Fulton Sheen thundered in the pulpit and so I raise my voice when I preach and sometimes scare small children. C. S. Lewis gave countless examples when he wrote, so I give examples in my homilies. Chesterton had an amazing aptitude for alliteration, and so I love to alliterate. Bishop Barron loves to say “Up and down the centuries,” and I’ve used that phrase often. Scott Hahn waves his hands for effect in his presentations, so I wave my hands like I’m trying to land an airplane in my homilies. And he frequently uses the phrase “In other words.” Have you noticed how I do too? We imitate those we admire and play a sort of “imitation game” that has been played “up and down the centuries.”

The two readings today demonstrate this imitation game being played between Jesus and Paul. What Jesus does in John 17 in the midst of his high priestly prayer, Paul imitates in Acts 20, his own farewell discourse during his third and last great missionary journey. Let me give you some examples (like Lewis). Jesus gathers his apostles, the first presbyters of the Church, to address them. Paul calls together the presbyters of the church in Ephesus to encourage them. Jesus knows he is about to face his trial, torture and death soon, and so Paul knows he is headed to Jerusalem when he will be put on trial, then sent to Rome and finally executed.

The apostles would remember these last words of Jesus and Paul would share the words of Jesus not even recorded in the gospel tradition. He says in Acts 20:35, “Keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus, who himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’.” Did you know those words are not found anywhere else in the New Testament, but rather in Sirach 4:31, which reads: “Do not let your hand be open to receive but clenched when it is time to give”? In other words, Paul knows Jesus so well, he can quote him outside of the New Testament. Imitation is the highest form of flattery.

The question for us today is: whom do we imitate? Whose words have become your words? Whose actions and mannerisms have you adopted as your own mannerisms? If we are not careful, we imitate people without even knowing it. While Barak Obama was president, I noticed I imitated some of his mannerisms and speaking style. People even commented: “Fr. John, you sound just like Barak Obama!” But far better than modern politicians and mesmerizing preachers, we should imitate Jesus. And we come to know him through the scriptures and the saints.

                Get involved in a bible study, especially on one of the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, where you find the words and wisdom, the mind and the mannerisms of Christ. Read the lives of the saints like St. Peter and St. Paul recorded in the Acts of the Apostles and St. Philip Neri, who founded the Oratorians who are outstanding orators. The saints are the imitators of Jesus who have made him alive in every age, “up and down the centuries.” In other words, we all play the imitation game all the time, whether we know it or not. We are all imitating someone. The only question is: who?

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Eat at Jesus's

Giving thanks on an ordination anniversary

05/25/2020

John 16:29-33 The disciples said to Jesus, “Now you are talking plainly, and not in any figure of speech. Now we realize that you know everything and that you do not need to have anyone question you. Because of this we believe that you came from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you believe now? Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived when each of you will be scattered to his own home and you will leave me alone. But I am not alone, because the Father is with me. I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.”

Today, May 25, 2020, I celebrate my twenty-fourth ordination anniversary, and my heart is filled with gratitude to God for the inestimable gift of the priesthood. A friend asked me how I would celebrate the day, and I replied: “Well, I will say morning Mass and then work on my bible study on the book of Revelation.” She responded drily: “Yeah, that sounds about right.” Seriously, how much can you party during a pandemic? But what better way is there to celebrate the priesthood than by celebrating the Eucharist?

As you know, the word Eucharist comes from the Greek word “eucharisto” which means “I give thanks.” One great saint captured the majesty and mystery of the Mass saying: We need three eternities to celebrate the Mass. One eternity to prepare for the Mass; a second eternity to celebrate the Mass; a third eternity to give God thanks for the Mass.” Only a priest can celebrate the Mass. It is his highest honor and his most sacred duty.

Many years ago Bishop McDonald ordained a priest who was seventy years old and some people questioned his decision. He answered his doubters: “If he celebrated only one Mass as a priest, then all his many years of seminary studies and formation would have been worth it.” C. S. Lewis once observed: “He who has God and everything else has no more than he who has God only.” That’s how I feel celebrating Mass on my ordination anniversary: like I have God in the Eucharist, and nothing else is necessary. Or, as the great Spanish mystic, St. Teresa of Avila, expressed it so eloquently: “Solo Dios basta,” meaning “God alone suffices.”

It’s impossible to summarize the sublime spirit of the priesthood that I feel on my anniversary, so I will try to do it by sharing these humorous church signs someone sent me by email recently. At the end of the day, that’s what a priest is: a huge blinking neon sign that says, “Eat at Joe’s,” or in the case of a priest, “Eat at Jesus’s”! Here are the church signs: “The Best Vitamin for a Christian is B1.” “Try our Sundays, They Are Better Than Baskin Robbins.”

“You are not too bad to come in. You are not too good to stay out.” “Can’t sleep? Try counting your blessings!” “Try Jesus. If you don’t like him, the devil will always take you back.” “Life is hard. Afterlife is harder.” I really like the following: “Aspire to inspire before you expire.” “Where will you be sitting for eternity? Smoking or non-smoking?” The last one reads: “Under same management for over 2,000 years.” And I’m pleased to be a priest and part of that management team for twenty-four of those 2,000 years.

Today’s gospel reading from John 16 ends with a wonderful word of encouragement for priests and for everyone else. Jesus says: “I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” To be honest, I haven’t had much trouble in the world in the past twenty-four years. My challenges have been tame, not like tigers but more like skunks. But I am happy to have that assurance from Christ that in case my troubles suddenly turn titanic he will provide his peace and courage. I feel Jesus’ peace and courage every time I celebrate the Eucharist. Don’t worry, I won’t take an eternity to finish Mass.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Happily Ever After Husband

Ascension helps us put our hopes in heaven

05/24/2020

Acts of the Apostles 1:1-11 In the first book, Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught until the day he was taken up, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them by many proofs after he had suffered, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While meeting with them, he enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for “the promise of the Father about which you have heard me speak; for John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” When they had gathered together they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.

A Jewish man, his wife and mother-in-law made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. While they were there, the mother-in-law suddenly had a heart-attack and passed away. They went to the local rabbi to get advice on what to do. He told them: “We can do a funeral service in the synagogue and bury her here for $150. Or, if you wish, you can have her shipped back to the United States for $5,000.” The man thought for a moment and replied: “We’ll have her body shipped back home.” The rabbi asked surprised: “Why would you spend $5,000 instead of burying her here for only $150?” The man answered: “Look, a man died here 2,000 years ago and you guys buried him and three days later he rose from the dead. I can’t take that chance.”

That man who died 2,000 years ago and rose 3 days later, of course, was Jesus. I hope that joke might serve as a segue to today’s sermon on the Resurrection and the Ascension. The first thing we have to realize about the Resurrection is that Jesus did not rise from the dead in order to remain here on earth. As great as the Resurrection is, it was only Jesus’ first step out of the grave, but the Ascension was his last step into glory. The Ascension is absolutely critical to Christianity. Why? Well, without the Ascension we are liable to think Jesus’ resurrection is the end of the story, like the final lines of all fairy tales: “They lived happily ever after.” And that “happily ever after” is always imagined as an earthly fulfillment of our hopes for happiness. But the Ascension tranforms that earthly hope into a much higher hope, namely, happiness in heaven. St. Paul warns against exactly that earthly emphasis saying in 1 Cor. 15:19: “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men the most to be pitied.”

If you find it difficult and disappointing to postpone your hopes for happiness until heaven, the apostles struggled too. At the end of the gospel of Matthew we read: “When they saw [Jesus], they worshiped, but they doubted.” What did they doubt? The first reading from Acts 1:6, retelling the same episode, records: “They asked him, ‘Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’” Put in modern English, they were asking: “Is this the part where we live ‘happily ever after’?” In other words, they expected Jesus to be the new Davidic king and bring back the glory days when David and Solomon sat on thrones and ruled all the nations. Indeed, the apostles would not understand the true nature of Christ’s kingdom with the Ascension, but only at Pentecost, which would turn their minds totally to heaven and radically transform their lives on earth.

Here are a few suggestions on how we can apply the Ascension into our daily lives. First of all we need the Ascension in our marriages. I work on the marriage tribunal that grants annulments. One person who petitioned for an annulment actually had four previous marriages. We know they are looking for the fairy tale ending for their marriage, for the “happily ever after husband.” The Ascension helps us realize, however, that every earthly marriage is imperfect and our only perfect marriage will be with Jesus in heaven. It says in Rev. 19:9: “Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” The only “happily ever after husband” is Jesus.

This pandemic is a perfect case in point, too, of the assistance we get from the Ascension. How many lives and livelihoods have been destroyed in just two months? A lot of people have lost their “happily ever after” on this earth when they lost their loved ones and their jobs, and especially if there’s no college football this fall! The Ascension reminds us, however, to put our hopes for happiness in heaven, where there will be no pandemics but only peace.

And thirdly, what are the only two things that we cannot escape on earth? They are death and taxes. And the resurrection is not enough to overcome death and taxes. Why not? Well, just ask Lazarus after he was raised from the dead. He still had to pay taxes to Caesar and he would die again. No, it is the Ascension alone that drives the last nail in the coffin of death and taxes. The Ascension teaches us to delay our earthly enjoyments and hope for heavenly happiness, and is really the only relief from death and taxes.

In a way, the Jewish man in the joke was right about not burying his mother-in-law in Jerusalem, even he wanted to do it for all the wrong reasons. He was right in that rising from the dead is never enough. We need more than the resurrection from the dead to discover true happiness. We need the Ascension to raise our hearts and hopes all the way to heaven. Why? Because only in heaven will we find our “happily ever after husband.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!