Angelic Doctors

Seeking the healing ministry of the angels

07/28/2020

Matthew 13:36-43 Jesus dismissed the crowds and went into the house. His disciples approached him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” He said in reply, “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the Kingdom. The weeds are the children of the Evil One, and the enemy who sows them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his Kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

Do you believe in angels? Sadly, so many of us have dropped our belief in angels into the dustbin of our childhood dreams, along with the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and the Santa Claus. Angels are like Trix Cereal. We are rebuked like the poor rabbit in the commercial: “Silly rabbit! Trix are for kids!” But are angels really just for kids?

Well, one of the most sober and serene of the Scholastic saints didn’t think so, and we shouldn’t either. I am talking about St. Thomas Aquinas, also known as the “Angelic Doctor.” Now, he’s not called the Angelic Doctor because angels would come to him when they felt sick and they needed a doctor. Quite the contrary, Aquinas would teach us how to go to them when we are sick, especially when our sickness is the spiritual cancer called “sin,” a problem far worse than the coronavirus pandemic.

In his comprehensive “Summa Theologica” (a summary of theology), Aquinas asserts: “These lower things are administered by angels, according to Heb. 1:14, ‘They are all ministering angels’ (Summa Theologica, I, Q. 57, Art. 2). These “lower things,” according to Aquinas, included humanity and our salvation from sin. In other words, mankind is precisely the patient in the medicinal ministry of the angels. So teaches the Angelic Doctor about “angelic doctors.”

Aquinas, of course, was only amplifying what Jesus teaches in the gospel today in a parable that is also about the angels. Sometimes we skip over the critical role of the angels in the parable of the weeds and the wheat. But listen to it again. Our Lord explains: “The weeds are the children of the Evil One, and the enemy who sows them is the Devil.” By the way, a little later in the Summa, in Question 63 of the First Part, Aquinas adds that the Devil was originally a good angel who fell from grace through “pride and envy.” Did you know that the Devil was once a good angel called Lucifer, one of the highest angels? Hence the medieval maxim, “corruptio optimi, pessima” meaning “the corruption of the best becomes the worst.” An angel of light becomes a devil of darkness. Or as we would put it today: “the bigger they are, the harder they fall.”

But Jesus also explains the work of the good angels, these “ministering angels” according to Heb. 1:14. Listen now: “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his Kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers…Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father.” Notice the imagery of light and sunshine as the effect of the ministry of the angels. Why is that? Well, when we are sick we want to stay in bed and in our dark rooms with the windows shut. But when we are healed and well, we want to come out into the sunshine and play. That’s how the angels “doctor” us, bringing us into the Light of Christ.

My friends, may I suggest two ways we can capitalize on this medicinal ministry of the angels? First, ask for the prayers of angels when you cannot overcome some stubborn sin. And we all struggle with stubborn sins. Sins like lust, pride, jealousy, resentment, anger, laziness, greed, ambition, racism, sexism, and so forth. The spiritual masters taught that each of us is plagued with a predominant fault; one sin in the face of which we inevitably fall. Ask the angels to heal you of that sin through their ministry. “They are all ministering angels.”

Second, ask the angels to help those you love in their spiritual struggles. Do you have children or grandchildren who have left the Church or don’t even believe in God anymore? Do you have loved ones who are enslaved to addictions to alcohol or drugs? Do you have family or friends you have had a falling out with and haven’t spoken to in ages? Well, send the angels as your ambassadors of good will, and let their intercession bring down God’s healing power. Hebrews said: “They are all ministering angels.”

Folks, go back to the dustbin of your childhood dreams and bring back your belief in the angels. Angels are our spiritual doctors and their ministry makes us happy and holy. Trix is only for kids, but the angels are for all of us.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

A Tale of Two Books

Learning from the parables of the little Prince

07/27/2020

Matthew 13:31-35 Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds. “The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the ‘birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.’” He spoke to them another parable. “The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.” All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables. He spoke to them only in parables, to fulfill what had been said through the prophet: I will open my mouth in parables, I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world.

I happened to be reading two books recently that I think should always be read together, holding one book in each hand. It gives new meaning to “double-fisting.” One book is called The Little Prince by the French novelist Antoine de Saint Exupery, and the other is The God Delusion by the famous atheist and Oxford professor Richard Dawkins. Maybe you have read one or both of them. If you haven’t, I suggest you read them together, side by side. Let me share a quotation from each of them and maybe you will see why these two books were sort of “made for each other.”

Antoine de Saint Exupery writes: “ Grown-ups like numbers. When you tell them about a new friend, they never ask questions about what really matters. They never ask ‘What does his voice sound like?’ ‘What games does he like best?’ ‘Does he collect butterflies?’ They ask: ‘How old is he?’ ‘How much does he weigh?’ ‘How much money does his father make?’ Only then do they think they know him.” Exupery goes on: “If you tell grown-ups, ‘I saw a beautiful red house with geraniums at the windows and doves on the roof…’ they won’t be able to image such a house. You have to tell them ‘I saw a house worth a hundred thousand francs.’ Then they exclaim, ‘What a pretty house!’” (The Little Prince, 10). In other words, The Little Prince teaches us to see the world more as “magical” rather than as merely “mathematical.”

Here’s quite a contrary quotation from Dawkins’ book The God Delusion, who champions Darwin’s theory of evolution. Dawkins writes: “Religion is so wasteful, so extravagant, and Darwin’s selection habitually targets and eliminates waste. Nature is a miserly accountant, grudging the pennies, watching the clock, punishing the smallest extravagance.” He concludes with a French phrase that Antoine de Saint Exupery would appreciate, saying, “Nature cannot afford frivolous jeux d’esprit” (The God Delusion, 190, 191) The phrase “jeux d’esprit” means “a light-hearted display of wit and cleverness, especially in a work of literature.” Can you catch how these two books were sort of written for each other: to dispute what the other is saying? They are both offering answers on who understands the most important things in life. One says only the simplest get it (like children); the other says only scientists get it.

In the gospel today, Jesus is right in the middle of his magnificent “Parables Discourse” in Matthew 13. This is Jesus’ third great speech or discourse, which consists of a collection of parables. Today, Jesus tells his disciples the parables of the mustard seed that becomes a huge bush and the little bit of yeast that raises the whole batch of dough. If you had to compare Jesus’ teaching style to that of Saint Exupery and Dawkins, who would our Lord be most like? It’s pretty easy to see how Jesus is more like The Little Prince, indeed, he is given the title of “Prince of Peace” in Isaiah 9:5.

In other words, Jesus is also trying to answer the question: who understands the most important things in life, the simple or the scientist? Like the Little Prince, Jesus employs examples of sheep and flowers and stars to help us understand the Kingdom of Heaven, which is the most important thing in life. If you look closely at the parables, you will even detect a hint of that “frivolous jeux d’esprit” that Dawkins so despises.

Of course, my point this morning is not to deny all the benefits and blessings of serious science and knowing numbers like adults. There’s a lot of good in that. Rather, the Little Prince and his parables insist that knowing numbers alone makes us miss the most important things in life. Things like what? Things like love, like laughter, like long summer swims, like staring into a lover’s eyes, like watching your baby sleeping, like seeing children playing together, like gathering for Sunday services, like telling tale tales over a delicious dinner, like remembering family and friends who have died, like admiring “a beautiful red house with geraniums at the windows and doves on the roof.” In a word (a French word), “jeux d’esprit.” These two books invite us to live in two different worlds, and we are free to choose either one. I like the one with the pretty red houses.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Blood Brothers

Drinking from the chalice of suffering for Jesus

07/25/2020

Matthew 20:20-28 The mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with her sons and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something. He said to her, “What do you wish?” She answered him, “Command that these two sons of mine sit, one at your right and the other at your left, in your Kingdom.” Jesus said in reply, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?” They said to him, “We can.” He replied, “My chalice you will indeed drink, but to sit at my right and at my left, this is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” When the ten heard this, they became indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus summoned them and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

It’s common to hear the question: What are you living for? We all have a rough and ready answer for that. We are living for the weekend! We are living for our next vacation! We are living for a vaccine for the pandemic! But have you ever asked yourself the question: Is there anything worth dying for? For those of you who have children or grandchildren, you might have felt a surge of love for them so strong that you exclaimed: “I would die for my children (or grandchildren)!” Indeed, all the small and large sacrifices parents perpetually make for their children can feel like death in installments. But parent don’t complain, and consider these sacrifices signs of their love.

But did you ever feel like you could die for your faith in Jesus? That is not a small question and we shouldn’t treat it lightly or answer too quickly. One of the first major heresies of the Church was called Donatism. Have you ever heard of that? Good, then you’re probably not a Donatist. During the persecution of Christians under Emperor Diocletian, the Christians who would not die for their faith were called “traitors.” Some of the traitors were even priests and bishops. The Donatists believed that sacraments that these traitor priests and bishops later celebrated were invalid. Only priests and bishops who would die for their faith were worthy to be such. But the Church, led by St. Augustine, condemned donatism, and welcomed home even those who could not die for their faith. If I had been a priest during the donatist controversy, I am not so sure I would have sacrificed my life for our Lord. Heck, I find it hard to sacrifice cheesecake and a good martini for Jesus!

In the gospel today, this is precisely the question Jesus puts to James and John. These two blood brothers are worried about what they are living for, whereas Jesus wants them to consider is there anything worth dying for. It’s actually their mother who asks Jesus for a favor: “Command that these two sons of mine sit, one at your right and the other at your left, in your Kingdom.” Jesus, without saying “no,” however, puts the matter in an entirely different light, asking them instead: “Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?”

By the way, what was that chalice? It was the “cup of suffering” that Jesus himself reluctantly accepted in the Garden of Gethsemane. In Mt. 26: 39 we read: “Jesus advanced a little and fell prostrate in prayer saying: ‘Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not as I will, but as you will’.” I wonder if the Donatist would have been satisfied with Jesus’ hesitation before his own sacrifice on Calvary. One of the two sons of Zebedee, St. James, would drink from that cup of suffering in Acts 12, where he is beheaded by King Herod Agrippa in Jerusalem, the first apostle to give his life for our Lord. The other son of Zebedee, St. John, would not die as a martyr, but of old age, buried in Ephesus where he served as bishop.

On this glorious feast of St. James, let me ask you (and me) the same question that Jesus put to the blood brothers, James and John: “Can you drink from the chalice that I am going to drink?” Some of us who are given the extraordinary grace of martyrdom may answer like St. James, “Yes, Lord we can.” In fact, this weekend we will celebrate the feast of Blessed Stanley Rother, a priest of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, who was martyred for his faith in Guatemala in 1981. Blessed Stanley Rother drank from the Lord’s “cup of suffering.”

Others of us who are not called to the supreme sacrifice of laying down our life for our Lord, can answer like St. John, “Yes, Lord, we can.” But we will drink from the chalice of the Blood of Christ at Mass. May the Blood of Christ give us the grace to die for Jesus in a thousand small ways every day, loving our Lord and each other. And let us all repeat with St. Paul in Rom. 14:7-8, “None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself…whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” In this way, we imitate those sons of Zebedee, James and John, who were blood brothers in life and in death.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Two Shining Cities

Walking as pilgrims toward the Heavenly Jerusalem

07/24/2020

Jeremiah 3:14-17 Return, rebellious children, says the LORD, for I am your Master; I will take you, one from a city, two from a clan, and bring you to Zion. I will appoint over you shepherds after my own heart, who will shepherd you wisely and prudently. When you multiply and become fruitful in the land, says the LORD, They will in those days no longer say, “The ark of the covenant of the LORD!” They will no longer think of it, or remember it, or miss it, or make another. At that time they will call Jerusalem the LORD’s throne; there all nations will be gathered together to honor the name of the LORD at Jerusalem, and they will walk no longer in their hardhearted wickedness.

This morning I would like to quickly compare and contrast two stirring speeches and even more quickly draw a Christian conclusion. One of Ronald Reagan’s most memorable speeches was his farewell address, where he mentioned the “shining city on a hill.” Do you remember that speech in 1989 from the Oval Office? Ending his second term, the Gipper said: ‘I’ve spoken about the shining city all my life…it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace.”

Reagan went on: “And if there had to be walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here." And then the 40th president of the United States concluded: “And she’s still a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom, for all pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home.” What I love about that speech is how balanced it was: recognizing the value of walls but also warmly welcoming everyone. That was Reagan’s America: a shining city on a hill.

Now, contrast that with Jeremiah’s speech – or better his prophetic oracle – in the first reading today. The Old Testament prophet says: “I will take you one from a city, two from a clan, and bring you to Zion.” He continues: “At that time they will call Jerusalem the Lord’s throne; there all nations will be gathered to honor the name of the Lord at Jerusalem, and they will walk no longer in their hardhearted wickedness.” Did you catch some of the similarities in the two speeches? Jeremiah is talking about Jerusalem and Mt. Zion, which was built on a hill, about 2,500 feet above sea level. Jerusalem was Jeremiah’s shining city on a hill, where all the nations would be welcome.

But what was happening to the earthly Jerusalem during Jeremiah’s day? It was being besieged and ultimately destroyed by the Babylonians. In other words, Jeremiah’s Jerusalem was not enjoying a period of prosperity like America reveling in the Reagan Revolution. Rather the earthly Jerusalem was a heap of ruins. Jeremiah’s shining city on a hill, therefore, would be a new Jerusalem in the future, with arms open to welcome the world. Indeed, this shining city on a hill would not be found anywhere on earth, but only in heaven.

So we read in the last book of the bible, Rev. 21:1, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth…I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.” So, where is Jeremiah’s shining city on a hill? Is it in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel? Is it in Washington D.C. the capital of the United States? Is it Fort Smith, the capital of the River Valley? No, it’s in heaven. That’s why in Phil. 3:20, St. Paul insists: “But our citizenship is in heaven.” That’s the contrast: Reagan’s shining city is on earth; Jeremiah’s shining city is in heaven.

Now let me draw a Christian conclusion from this comparison and contrast. Ask yourself today: to which city on a hill do you have a stronger allegiance: the earthly city or the heavenly one? If someone asks you if you are a Republican or a Democrat, perhaps the best answer is, “I am a Christian.” That reminds me of Humphrey Bogart’s clever answer in Casablanca, when Captain Strasser asked him, “What is your nationality?” He replied, “I am a drunkard.” I like that answer because Catholics are often accused of being drunkards, and priests in particular.

Do you get more upset about what’s going on in earthly cities (like Portland) and forget about our citizenship in the heavenly Jerusalem, and its earthly manifestation, the Catholic Church? Do we read the Bill of Rights more religiously than we read the Bible? Are we more aware of the history and presidents of our country than the holiness and the popes of the church? St. Augustine commented: “Two loves built two cities,” and by that he taught that whichever city we love more is the city that we are building up more.

My friends, we are pilgrims walking toward one of two shining cities on a hill. Our feet are either carrying us to the earthly city, like Jerusalem or D.C. or Fort Smith, or our steps bring us closer to that heavenly Jerusalem, which we already enjoy every time we gather for the Eucharist. And as you compare and contrast these two cities on a hill, here’s one more thought. Reagan’s farewell speech was actually written by Peggy Noonan; Jeremiah’s speech-writer was the Holy Spirit.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Fighting Like Family

Seeing how God reunites his fragmented family

07/22/2020

Matthew 12:46-50 While Jesus was speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with him. Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak with you.” But he said in reply to the one who told him, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

There’s an old adage that says: No one fights like family. But it’s also true that nothing breaks a father or mother’s heart like seeing their children bickering and backbiting. Have you seen the ravages of family feuds in your family? I am sad to say I have certainly witnessed it in my own family, even in fights between my brother and me. Of course, I was always right in those arguments. Well, I would suggest to you this family feud, and the father’s desire to heal it, are the fundamental theme and thrust of the whole Bible.

Indeed, the Bible begins with a family feud, actually a fratricide when Cain kills Abel in Gen. 4. And the Father’s plan – like all good fathers desire – is to reunite his feuding family in peace and love. All human history begins with a family – Adam’s family – living in harmony and holiness with God, and human history will end with all of us living in harmony and holiness with God, provisionally on earth, and perfectly in Eternity.

How will God achieve such an ambitious undertaking? He does it through successive covenants, each one like an ever-widening concentric circle, embracing more of the human family in the Father’s loving arms. The first is the original one with Adam and Eve, called the Edenic covenant, made in the Garden of Eden. The circle was a nuclear family. The second was Noah and the flood, symbolized by the rainbow. The circle grew to encircle a whole clan. The third was with Abraham, gradually unfolding in Gn. 12, 15, 17 and culminating in Gn. 22. The circle had widened to a tribe. The fourth covenant was with Moses on Mt. Sinai and the giving of the Law. The circle was now a whole nation.

The fifth one was with David and the establishment of the Davidic Kingdom in 2 Samuel 7, which meant the circle was international (covering multiple nations). The sixth and concluding covenant, indeed the new and eternal covenant (as the priest pronounces over the chalice at every Mass) comes with Christ. Why did Christ come? To reunite the fragmented family of Adam into the fully reunited Family of God, and thus fulfill the Father’s will: to see his children not fighting anymore but living in harmony and holiness.

Why am I tell you all this? Because only now can we crack the code of Christ’s words in Mt. 12 about his true family. We read: “And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, ‘Here is my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother and sister and mother.” Now notice when Jesus employs domestic language to describe his disciples, he is not dabbling with quaint metaphors. Rather, he is unveiling his Father’s heart, that, like all good fathers, wants to see their children love each other and forgive their family feuds. This is the grace and goal of the new and eternal covenant Christ ushers in: the reunion of the Family of God, like it once was in Eden and one day will be in Eternity.

Seeing the big picture in Scripture as the healing of a family feud can also shed light on some of the sins that are rearing their ugly heads today, like racism. In 1963, George Wallace became governor of Alabama and in his inaugural address declared infamously: “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” I don’t know what was in Governor Wallace’s heart; I dare not judge him. But I do know that speech must have broken God the Father’s heavenly heart. Why? Well, because it tried to turn the clock backward on all those covenants, and the healing of our family feuds. Almost diametrically opposed to Wallace’s words are those of Jesus in the gospel today: “Here are my mother and my brothers.”

My friends, let us do a quick check of our own heart beats. Does our heart beat in rhythm with God’s heart? Do we desire the healing of humanity, especially the deep wound called racism? Instead of segregation now and forever, let us celebrate the new and eternal sacrifice of Christ.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Signs of Love

Seeing God’s love reflected in our parents’ love

07/20/2020

Matthew 12:38-42 Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” He said to them in reply, “An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and there is something greater than Jonah here. At the judgment the queen of the south will arise with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than Solomon here.”

Sometimes it seems we will never fully know how much our parents love us. Maybe it will not be until our parents pass away that we finally feel the full depth of their love for us. Last evening I visited the family of Charlie Logan to prepare for his funeral on Wednesday. I was moved by this daughter, Mary’s, description of what a loving, giving and inspiring man her father was. He taught her a love for the outdoors, and that’s why she lives in Denver, Colorado today, and loves to hike and fish and explore the wonders of nature. Today, she can see the signs of his love for her by reflecting on her own life. In other words, the clearest signs of a father or mother’s love can be seen in who we (their children) are.

If we look closely at our own lives we will see hints of the midnight feedings, the countless PTO meetings, the sleepless nights worrying, the driving to soccer games, the bandaging of broken bones and broken hearts, and so much more. All those signs of love by parents are taken for granted by children, that is, until we have children of our own. When we try to love our own children we begin to glimpse how much our parents loved us. Sometimes the best way to appreciate a father or mother’s love is by looking in the mirror: children are the surest sign of parent’s love.

In the gospel today, Jesus grows exceedingly exasperated with the Pharisees’ demand for a sign. They insist that Jesus show them a sign that he acts with the authority of God, because that is exactly what Jesus claimed. Jesus’ response is to tell them you have missed all the signs of how much God the Father loved you in the Old Testament, and so you miss how much I love you. Just like we often overlook how much our parents love us until they die, so the Jewish leaders would miss how much God loves them until the Son of God (Jesus ) would die for them on the Cross. Even then many of them missed it.

When Jesus reminds them of Jonah and Solomon, he’s trying to tell them: remember the midnight feedings and driving to soccer practice and bandaging broken bones and broken hearts that God did for you in the Old Testament? Those are the signs of the Father’s love for you, and I am continuing his work. So we read in John 5:17 (one of my favorite verses), where Jesus says: “My Father is at work until now, and I am at work.” In other words, all you have and are as the Chosen People are the clearest signs of God’s love for you. If you want to see a sign of God’s love (and my authority) look in the mirror, especially the rear view mirror. Children are always the best signs of their parents’ love.

My friends, have you ever asked for a sign from God? Perhaps you prayed for some miracle, or a blessing, or a healing so God could prove, once and for all, that he exists and that he loves you. Who has not cried out in moments of honest and brutal spiritual desperation: “Just show me one sign and I will believe!”? But God’s love for us is a lot like our father and our mother’s love for us; we need look no further than our own nose.

Just ask yourself these questions: Did you get out of bed this morning? Did you eat your breakfast? Did you read the newspaper? Did you try to love your spouse and children? Did you say your prayers? Did you try to make this world a little better place to live? Did you love the poor? Did you listen to music? Did you dance or cry or sing today? Do you love the outdoors and hiking and fishing and exploring? You would not have been able to do even one of those things without God the Father’s love to sustain you every second and surround you like a warm blanket on a cold night.

Etienne Gilson put it perfectly and said it succinctly when he wrote: because we are made in the image of God “the last word of self-knowledge is the first word on God” (The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy, 221). In other words, if you want to see a sign of God’s love, look in the mirror.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

The First Carmelite

Following in the footsteps of Elijah the prophet

07/16/2020

1 Kings 18:13-24 Now summon all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, as well as the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table.” So Ahab summoned all the Israelites and had the prophets gather on Mount Carmel. Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long will you straddle the issue? If the LORD is God, follow him; if Baal, follow him.” But the people did not answer him. So Elijah said to the people, “I am the only remaining prophet of the LORD, and there are four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal. Give us two young bulls. Let them choose one, cut it into pieces, and place it on the wood, but start no fire. I shall prepare the other and place it on the wood, but shall start no fire. You shall call upon the name of your gods, and I will call upon the name of the LORD. The God who answers with fire is God.” All the people answered, “We agree!”

Since today is the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, and I am fond of giving tests, let me ask you a question about the Carmelites. Who was the very first Carmelite? Is it St. Teresa of Avila, or St. John of the Cross, or St. Theresa of Lisieux? Those are all good guesses, but they are all wrong. Sorry. The very first Carmelite cannot even be found on the pages of the New Testament, but you have to go all the way back to the ancient annals of the Old Testament, to 1 Kings 18. There we find the first Carmelite, Elijah, engaging in an epic battle with 450 prophets of the pagan deity named Baal on Mt. Carmel. This battle royale consists of the prophets building two altars, placing a holocaust on each, and praying for their respective deity to respond with fire and consume the sacrifice. The story ends with Elijah’s overwhelming victory, which he celebrates by slashing the throats of all 450 prophets of Baal. Yeah.

But why were the people attracted to Baal instead of Yahweh in the first place? Well, because like all false gods, Baal promised the three things all people (falsely) think will make them happy: money, sex and power. Yahweh, on the other hand, offered the people true and lasting happiness by teaching them to sacrifice these lesser goods for an infinitely greater good, namely, God himself. Elijah’s crushing victory on Mt. Carmel, therefore, was not only spectacular theater, but it was also a spiritual teaching: the path to true happiness lies in single-hearted devotion to the true God.

I was very blessed to spend three months with the Carmelites in Dallas several years ago. One day I mentioned to a Carmelite friar that I would love to visit Mt. Carmel in the Holy Land, and stand on the site of the battle royale between Elijah and the prophets of Baal. From atop Mt. Carmel, you get a breath-taking view of the Mediterranean Sea. He replied with piercing eyes and a knowing smile: “You don’t have to go to the Holy Land to see Mt. Carmel. That sacred mountain stands inside your own heart.”

He later explained that the heart is where modern-day Carmelites (like Elijah) battle against Baal, who promises us passing pleasures of money, sex and power. Carmelites (and other religious) take the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience precisely to counteract the impulses of these three perennial temptations. And God’s holy fire comes down from heaven and consumes a modern Carmelite’s acceptable sacrifices, just like it did 2,850 years ago on Mt. Carmel.

But I believe that lay persons are likewise called to be spiritual Carmelites, and walk a mile or two in the sandals of Elijah. Not only in every Christian heart, therefore, but also in every Christian home stands that spiritual Mt. Carmel, and the battle with Baal. What do I mean? Well, do parents not choose to impoverish themselves so that their children might become rich? That is the laity’s version of the vow of poverty. Do parents not teach their children the virtue of chastity, even if they at times fall short of it themselves? That’s the lay version of the vow of chastity.

Do parents not demand obedience from their children because they know it brings harmony and happiness into the home? That is the laity’s sense of obedience. In other words, we see reenacted that spectacular show-down between the true God and the false gods in every Christian heart and home that tries to live by the gospel, and embrace the “evangelical counsels.” And what happens? God sends his holy fire down from heaven to consume the sacrifices on the Mt. Carmels standing in every Christian home.

May our sacrifices of money, sex and power be acceptable in the sight of Almighty God, and be consumed by the fire of his love. Let us ask for the intercession of that first Carmelite, Elijah, to teach us to take up our sword and do battle with Baal, and his false prophets. Of course, the first false prophet we must battle and defeat is ourselves.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Soil Samples

Seeing what kind of soil we are for the Word

07/12/2020

Matthew 13:1-9 On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore. And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

Today is my 51st birthday and I get to spend it celebrating four Masses – what could be better? Nothing. A friend sent me a letter last week with a little humor to help me deal with getting older. He wrote: “You know you’re getting older, if before you step off the curb, you look down once more to make sure the street is still there. You know you are getting older when “Happy Hour” is a nap. You know you’re getting older when you finally know your way around, but don’t feel like going anywhere. You can judge your age by the amount of pain you feel when you come in contact with a new idea.” New ideas are never good ideas. You know, I didn’t think that fifty-one was that old until I received that letter, now I really feel old! With friends like that, who needs enemies?

But one of the blessings of growing older is hindsight; that is, you have some history under your belt, and those years provide some precious perspective on life. You’ve heard the old adage: “hindsight is twenty-twenty.” And that’s true because history affords you a certain accuracy of apprehension, like how the best kind of “Happy Hour” is an afternoon nap! Today, I would like to use some of that hindsight to explain Jesus’ parable of seeds and the sower in Mt. 13, Jesus’ third, great discourse in Matthew’s gospel, called the “Parable Discourse.” I would like to use my hindsight to break open the seed of God’s Word today.

Jesus explains how a sower spreads seeds on four different sorts of soil: some on a path, some on rocky ground, some among thorns, and finally some on rich soil. The obvious meaning of the parable is that each sort of soil refers to a specific sort of person. But I would suggest to you that all four soils can be found in the same person, but just at different stages of his or her life. Let me use God’s gift of holy hindsight to demonstrate how I have been all four soil samples in the past 51 years.

Jesus explains that the first soil sample is a path where the seeds fall, but the evil one comes and steals away what was sown in this soul. That impenetrable path is a perfect picture of my teenage soul. How many seeds of wisdom my parents, my priests and my professors showered down on my soul during my youth, bouncing off my hard head like that hard path. So often my soul was hardened by pride because I felt like I already knew everything. I remember thinking as I graduated from Catholic High School in Little Rock, “What could they possible teach us in college? I already know it all!” As I turn 51 years old, though, I feel more like the Greek philosopher Plato, who said: “The more I know the more I know I don’t know” (Apology, 21d). That teenager’s soul that was a path of pride has become slightly softer soil.

Jesus describes the second soil sample as rocky ground that has no root, so the seed of the word cannot produce lasting fruit. I remember an instance when my soul resembled that rocky soil: God’s seeds going in one ear and out the other. When I was about to enter theology studies, Bishop McDonald “suggested: I attend St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore, which was his own alma mater. I thought about it for a moment, but then replied, “Nah, I would rather go to Emmitsburg to study.” He let me go where I wanted, but I don’t think he ever liked it. Later I learned that when a bishop “suggests” you do something, he’s not making a suggestion! At 51 years old, I’m trying to hear the bishop’s “suggestions” with new heart and with a softer soul. Maybe those suggestions are the sounds of the Holy Spirit speaking.

Our Lord says the third soil sample is filled with thorns, which chokes the seeds trying to sprout. Those thorns represent world anxiety and the lure of riches. I am embarrassed to admit that sometimes those thorns have choked my preaching and kept me from preaching messages the congregation might not like. How so? Well, a more conservative congregation will not like a liberal-sounding sermon; while a left-leaning audience will be offended by more right-winged rhetoric. And why am I afraid of that? Because of lower collections, that’s why! The Sunday collection is an instant “Neilson rating” on the homily. Worldly anxiety can choke the word that should be heard in its fullness in my preaching. I should take to heart St. Paul’s admonition about fearless preaching to his protégé Timothy. That fiery evangelist said: “Preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching” (2 Tim. 4:2). In other words, wear those thorns on your head like a crown, instead of over your mouth where it chokes God’s word.

As I begin my fifty-second orbit on this third rock from the sun, I feel grateful for God’s gift of hindsight and seeing more clearly the past fifty-one years. I can begin to see how my soul has been a hard path, rocky ground, choked with thorns, and sometimes – but not as often as I would like – even rich soil. As the sun at the center of the solar system causes the seeds to sprout in rich soil on this earth, so may the Son of Righteousness, Jesus Christ, shine on my soul (and yours), and cause the seed of his Word to bear fruit, “hundred or sixty or thirty fold.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!

To Free Slaves

Embracing the missionary transformation of the Church

07/10/2020

Matthew 10:16-23 Jesus said to his Apostles: “Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves. But beware of men, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues, and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will hand over brother to death, and the father his child; children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to another. Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”

If there’s one message Pope Francis has hammered home since becoming Holy Father, it is the “missionary transformation” of the Church. That is, it’s not just Jesuits, Franciscans and Mother Teresa’s sisters who should scour the earth to spread the gospel. This missionary mandate is the basic marching orders of every baptized Christian. If we’re missing the missionary spirit, then we’re really missing the Christian spirit.

We find a telling analogy for Christianity in the program called Alcoholics Anonymous. Many alcoholics have discovered the best way to be freed from the grip of addiction is to follow the 12 steps of A.A. The 12th and last step reads: “Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all of our affairs.” In other words, the last step of A.A. (carry this message to alcoholics) is every bit as important as the first step, just like in Christianity, being a missionary disciple is every bit as important as baptism. Both A.A. and Christianity are paths to true freedom, so we read in Gal. 5:1, “For freedom Christ has set us free.” And once we’ve tasted true freedom why wouldn’t we share that freedom with those who are still slaves? That is the underlying motivation of every missionary disciple: to free slaves.

Today’s gospel is taken right from the middle of Matthew 10, Jesus famous second speech or discourse, called the “Missionary Discourse.” Jesus, too, like Pope Francis, is intensely concerned to put missionary discipleship at the heart and center of the gospel. He says: “Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and as simple as doves.” In other words, not everyone is going to welcome your message of freedom and liberation, like many alcoholics do not readily welcome the prospect of abandoning their favorite drink. Indeed, they will often turn on their own family and friends to find happiness at the bottom of a bottle.

So, Jesus goes on to add alarmingly: “Brother will hand over brother to death, and the father his child; children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.” By the way, do you know of any families that have been torn apart by alcoholism: parents turning against children and vice versa, because people preferred slavery to their vices rather than smell the sweet air of freedom and recovery? In an almost identical way, we often prefer the slavery of our sins to the sweet yolk of the freedom of Christ. Gal. 5:1 continues: For freedom Christ has set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yolk of slavery.” A.A. is a battle to free slaves, and so is Christianity.

Of course, the first person who has to hear the message of freedom of the gospel is the man in the mirror, that is, me. And we have to hear this call to freedom every day. That is, we have to be missionary disciples to ourselves, to experience the sweet freedom from slavery to sin in our own addictions and vices, before we can carry the Good News to others. The 12th step of A.A. is the last step, not the first step. Only after we are healed can we begin to heal others, or as we used to hear on airplanes before take-off: “Secure the oxygen mask on yourself before putting the mask on others, like small children.” We must inhale freedom before we can exhale freedom. Similarly, it says in Luke 4:23, “Physician heal thyself.” Before ministering to others, therefore, we must be missionaries to the strange land of our own souls.

No other prayer sums up the missionary mandate, in my opinion, than John Henry Newman’s prayer called “Trust in God.” It is as eloquent and effective as the 12 Steps, and almost as sublime and spiritual as the Missionary Discourse of Mt. 10, and it is a little long. The cardinal-saint wrote: “God has created me to do him some definite service. He has committed some work to me, which he has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do his work. I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it, if I do but keep his commandments.

“Therefore, I will trust him, whatever I am. I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness my sickness may serve him, in perplexity, my perplexity may serve him. If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve him. He does nothing in vain. He knows what he is about. He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me. Still, he knows what he is about.” In other words, what “God is about” is to free slaves.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Shepherd One

Seeing Jesus as the one and only Shepherd

07/07/2020

Matthew 9:32-38 A demoniac who could not speak was brought to Jesus, and when the demon was driven out the mute man spoke. The crowds were amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” But the Pharisees said, “He drives out demons by the prince of demons.” Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, and curing every disease and illness. At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”

Mark Twain once said: “I can live for two months on a good compliment.” People sometimes compliment me by saying they think I should be a bishop. They usually say that after they’ve had a couple of drinks. And after I have had a couple of drinks, I usually agree with them! But in my more sober and sane moments, I agree more often with Hebrews 5:4, which warns ambitious clergy: “No one takes this honor [of high priesthood] upon himself but only when called by God, just as Aaron was.” In other words, cool your jets, Fr. John.

But I have discovered another reason not to be a bishop, a more calculating one. I have learned that it’s one thing to be a shepherd to the sheep, but it’s an entirely different matter to be a shepherd to the shepherds. Why? Well, because the shepherds think they know it all, and don’t need to be taught anything new. It’s a lot easier to be a doctor to a patient than to be a doctor to other doctors.

But as the years pass by in the priesthood, a priest discovers there is only one Shepherd, namely, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, and the rest of us are his sheep, including the shepherds. When a priest is sent to a parish, he must take care of the sheep, but the sheep must also take care of him. We learn slowly but surely that the priest does not have all the answers, but surprisingly, the sheep often have better suggestions than the shepherd. That is, Jesus’ voice echoes not only from the pulpit, but also from the pews.

What we are really learning is that it is Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who guides, nourishes, heals, teaches and leads his people, both his sheep as well as his shepherds. We begin to penetrate the depths of St. Paul’s statement in Ephesians 4:6, “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” There is one Lord, and there is one Shepherd, and it ain’t me.

In the gospel today, Jesus urges his disciples to pray for vocations. He says at the end of chapter 9, before he begins his Missionary Discourse in chapter 10, these famous words: “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” Clearly, laborers and harvest is another metaphor like shepherds and sheep. Therefore, we should remember that the laborers are every bit as much of the harvest as are the golden stalks of wheat. In other words, just like there is only one true Shepherd and all the rest of us are sheep of his flock, so too, there is only one true Laborer, Jesus, and all of us are his harvest, priests, as well as people, and even bishops. “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.”

As you know by now, last week Bishop Taylor announced the clergy changes that will take effect on September 1st. Two weeks before that, on August 15th, we will have two men ordained to the priesthood: Daniel Velasco and Joseph Friend. The week prior to August 15, we will have five men ordained as deacons, including Ben Riley and Omar Galvan from our parish. God is answering our prayer to send more laborers into the harvest field.

Today, I want to thank Fr. Martin Amaro for his priestly ministry here at I.C., because he will be moving to Russellville, Dardanelle and Danville to work with Fr. Mauricio Carrasco. I’m very proud of Fr. Martin and how he has embraced priestly life in Arkansas after having been out of the country for 9 years. He’s almost speaking English with a southern accent now. Someday, you should ask him to tell you his hilarious stories of meeting Pope Francis, and asking his blessing before leaving the Eternal City. Fr. Martin will learn a lot from Fr. Mauricio, and Fr. Mauricio will learn a lot from Fr. Martin. And it is Jesus who teaches them both.

Our new associate, who will also be newly ordained (a baby priest!) will be Fr. Daniel Velasco. I spent an hour with him on the phone, and really liked him. As I answered his questions, he would pause before asking the next question. I asked: “Are you taking notes?” He said, “Yes.” I said: “That’s awesome, no one takes notes when I talk; they usually just sleep!” I really like this guy. Future Fr. Daniel came from Mexico, studied at Harding University on a tennis scholarship, and earned an MBA degree. He worked for a while before entering seminary. Please warmly welcome him when he arrives, as you do all our priests.

I have learned a lot from Fr. Martin and I am sure I will learn as much from Fr. Daniel. Here’s the only thing I have to teach them. Even though they are ordained to be shepherds, they are still the sheep. Even though they are called to be laborers for the harvest, they are still the stalks of wheat. In the end, there is only “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Why Marriage Matters

Seeing the deeper reasons and roots of marriage

07/06/2020

Hosea 2:16, 17C-18, 21-22 Thus says the LORD: I will allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart. She shall respond there as in the days of her youth, when she came up from the land of Egypt. On that day, says the LORD, She shall call me “My husband,” and never again “My baal.” I will espouse you to me forever: I will espouse you in right and in justice, in love and in mercy; I will espouse you in fidelity, and you shall know the LORD.

One of the most ancient and audacious analogies for God’s love for humanity is marriage, that God not only make us like a building, but he also marries us like a bride. To be sure, there are many analogies for God’s love, like he is Shepherd and he is Savior. But no analogy strikes me quite as bold and daring as Spouse. Many years ago I heard children taunting each other on the playground. One child said: “I really love cheesecake!” And the other children ridiculed him by shouting: “Well, if you love it so much, why don’t you marry it?!” In other words, small children cannot think of a higher expression of love than marriage, even marriage to a cheesecake. Full disclosure: that little child who said he really loved cheesecake was me, and I’m still traumatized by their taunting. In a sense, we can say that God cannot think of a higher expression of his love for us than to marry us, both analogically and actually.

In the first reading today, we see the prophet Hosea acting like one of those small children on the playground and saying that God loves us so much he wants to marry us. We read in Hosea 2, “On that day, says the Lord, She (meaning God’s people) shall call me ‘My Husband’.” Hosea goes on speaking for God: “I will espouse you to me forever.” Now, just so you don’t think Hosea 2 is an isolated instance, or he’s giving in to holy hyperbole, let me share a few other prophetic passages about God’s desire to marry us. Isaiah 54:5 reads, “For your husband is your Maker; the Lord of hosts is his name.” Jeremiah 2:2 adds, “I remember the devotion of your youth, how you loved me as a bride.” Ezekiel 16:8 chimes in with: “I spread the corner of my cloak over you…I swore an oath to you…and you became mine.”

This same ancient analogy carries over into the New Testament books. In Ephesians 5:25, St. Paul writes: “Husbands love your wives, even as Christ loved the church.” In the last book of the Bible, we hear about the bride analogy again. Rev. 21:2 says: “I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” In other words, when the sacred authors of Scripture search for an apt analogy for God’s love, they can do no better than school children on the playground, and they express God’s love for us in terms of marriage.

This audacious analogy is the root reason why marriage matters so much for us Christians, especially for us Catholics. When we mess with marriage – like getting a divorce, or redefining marriage, or ignoring marriage by living together (which is becoming increasingly popular today) – we touch something not only deeply natural, but also something deeply supernatural. We touch the heart of God, and obscure this audacious analogy of how much he loves us. When we cannot see marriage in its true light, we begin to lose sight of God’s love, and when we lose sight of God’s love, we cannot see ourselves clearly anymore. We lose touch with ourselves and who we are: God’s bride. That’s why marriage matters. I do not mean to criticize modern society; it must steer itself with the best lights it has. But we Christians have the light of the gospel.

You probably know that I work in the diocesan marriage tribunal, the office that grants annulments for people who have been divorced, and perhaps already remarried. Every day I walk into that office with great fear and trembling for what I’m about to do. Yes, I know that when a petitioner receives an “affirmative decision” for their previous marriage, they can get their second marriage blessed in the Church and return to the sacraments. And that is indeed a wonderful and joyous occasion. I am happy to be the priest who often officiates at blessing those second marriages. Talk about don’t let your right hand know what your left hand is doing!

But every annulment also has an unintended consequence: it obscures the ancient analogy of marriage as the highest and holiest expression of God’s love for us. God wants us to be his bride. God will never seek an annulment from us, and that is a very good thing. Listen carefully to the children on the playground, who are like the modern-day prophets, saying: “If you love it so much, why don’t you marry it?!” And so Jesus said in Mt. 21:16, “Out of the mouths of infants and nurslings you have brought forth praise.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Defining Declarations

Cherishing our earthly and heavenly citizenship

07/05/2020

Matthew 11:25-30 At that time Jesus exclaimed: “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.” “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

The weekend before their big history final, four college buddies decided to go to St. Louis to party with friends. After partying all night, they slept all day Sunday and didn’t make it back in to Springfield until early Monday morning. Instead of taking their final, they found their professor later that day and explained their story. They had gone to St. Louis for the weekend, they told her, and planned to be back for the test. But they took a short-cut down a dirt road, and got a flat tire. They didn’t have a spare and couldn’t get help for a long time, and so they were too late to take the test.

The professor thought awhile and then said they could come and take the test the next day. When they arrived, she handed them each a test booklet and placed them each in a separate room. They looked at the first question. It asked, “(For 5 points) On what date was the Declaration of Independence ratified?” All four boys smiled big and happily wrote down: “July 4, 1776.” Then they turned the page and read the second question: “(For 95 points) Which tire?” History professors have heard it all.

I share that humorous episode because it shows how “higher education” these days has eroded into a kind of “lower education.” College campuses are more famous for their party scenes than for their Ph.D.’s, where students memorize every flavor of Samuel Adams beer, but have no idea Samuel Adams was an American statesman, a political philosopher, and a Founding Father of the United States. The only Greek they know are the letters of fraternities and sororities. That’s why it often takes a foreigner to help the natives appreciate the country they live in, like a little brown boy from India who eventually became pastor of Immaculate Conception Church. As a naturalized citizen of the United States, it breaks my heart to see how many Americans take their heritage for granted.

In 1883 Emma Lazarus wrote the poem “The New Colossus” for the dedication of the Statue of Liberty. The last lines should stir the soul of every American – even college students. It reads: “Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp! cries she / With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, / The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. / Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, / I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” Every new wave of immigrants to this country, like the unceasing waves of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans that caress our shores, teaches us Americans what a treasure we have to call this country our home, and not take it for granted.

In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus expresses a similar sentiment as Emma Lazarus about how people take their blessings for granted in being a Christian. Our Lord almost lifts a few lines from the lips of Lady Liberty when he says: “I give praise to you Father…for although you have hidden these things from the wise and learned (like college students who blow off history exams!), you have revealed them to little one (like poor immigrants).” He continues, “Come to me, all who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.”

If you read the New Testament attentively, you will discover that 50% was written by converts to Christianity. Luke’s gospel and Acts of the Apostles (also written by Luke) is 27%, and Paul’s thirteen letters are 23%, totaling together 50%. Luke and Paul were newcomers to Christianity – immigrants, you might say – converting after the death and resurrection of Christ. And in some ways, they taught the old guard of Peter, James and John what a treasure they had in their faith and not to take it for granted. Sometimes it takes an immigrant to a new land – on earth as well as in heaven – to educate the natives how blessed they are.

Like the history teacher in the joke, and Jesus in the gospel, I’d like to test your knowledge of the United States and the Catholic Church. How American and Catholic are you? It’s a sort of “citizenship test” for your citizenship on earth, and your citizenship in heaven, as St. Paul says in Phil. 3:20. I’ll read ten famous quotations, five from the bible, five from U.S. Presidents, and you have to answer who made that statement. Ready?

(1) “He must increase and I must decrease” (St. John the Baptist in John 3:30). (2) “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country” (President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address). (3) “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (St. Paul in Phil. 4:13). (4) “Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself” (President Franklin D. Roosevelt, inspiring Americans in the Great Depression). (5) “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread he will live for ever” (Jesus, the Bread of Life Discourse in John 6:51). (6) “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” (President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address).

(7) “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (St. Peter’s profession of faith in Mt. 16:16). (8) “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far” (President Theodore Roosevelt’s foreign policy statement). (9) “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word” (Blessed Virgin Mary’s response to the Angel Gabriel). (10) “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (President Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence).

Are you wishing you had a flat tire on the way to Mass today to avoid that quiz, like those college students? I hope that any answers you missed inspire you to go back and look up those quotations and learn who said them and why they are so famous. These are the declarations that defined our nation and our Church, and we have no excuse to be ignorant of them. Sometimes it takes an alien to America, a foreigner to the faith, to teach natives not to take their blessings for granted. How blessed we are to have dual citizenship, and can enter the Golden Door, both on earth and in heaven.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Beyond All Doubt

Honoring and learning from St. Thomas the Apostle

07/03/2020

John 20:24-29 Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But Thomas said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

In some ways, I think Protestants get the Christian thing right. Don’t worry, I’m not about to turn in my Catholic card and pick a Protestant one. But what is the one burning question Protestants want to set the world on fire with? They ask: “Have you accepted Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?” In other words, Protestants believe Christianity comes down to the identity of Christ and our relationship with him. Even Bishop Robert Barron agrees with them, and he was no Protestant in Catholic clothes.

He wrote: ‘One of the most important things to understand about Christianity is that it is not primarily a philosophy, or a system of ethics or a religious ideology. It is a relationship to the unsettling person of Jesus Christ, to the God-man. Someone stands at the center of the Christian concern” (Catholicism, 10). Sooner or later every Christian worthy of the name must wrestle with and answer the question that Jesus insistently asks in the gospels, and Protestants echo: “Who do you say that I am?” (Mt. 16:15).

July 3 is the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, one of my patron saints because he evangelized my native home country of India. We built a huge basilica in his honor to thank him. Thomas gets a bad rap because he’s been given the moniker of “Doubting Thomas.” But I would like to defend the Doubter today because, after all, it is his feast and we should see his strengths, and he’s my patron, so I should say something nice. I believe Thomas’ confession of faith in John 20:28 is equivalent to St. Peter’s profession of faith in Mt. 16:18, when Jesus’ band of brothers arrived in Caesarea Philippi. There, Peter had proclaimed this about Jesus: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Notice the burning question in the background of both of these dramatic scenes: in Matthew 16 and John 20. Jesus asks them if they’re catching on to the core of Christianity. Who is Jesus, and what are you going to do about that?

Now, we should not think Jesus is dropping these questions about his identity out of the blue, like a teacher might give his unprepared students a pop quiz. No. Jesus is THE Teacher and throughout the gospel of John he has prepared his apostles to understand his identity through his seven “I am” sayings. Have you heard of these seven “I am” sayings? Just like God told Moses in Ex. 3:14 from the burning bush his identity as “I am who am,” so Jesus tells his apostles his burning identity in these seven “I am” sayings.

Briefly, they are: (1) “I am the bread of life,” in John 6:35; (2) “I am the light of the world,” in John 8:12; (3) “I am the door of the sheep” in John 10:7; (4) “I am the good shepherd” in John 10:11; (5) “I am the resurrection and the life” in John 11:25; (6) I am the way, the truth and the life” in John 14:6; and (7) “I am the true vine” in John 15:1. So, Jesus is not asking his apostles questions in a vacuum; to catch them off-guard. Rather, he has taught them well, and Thomas passes the test with flying colors today when he declares: “My Lord and my God.” The whole gospel of John has been building up like a great symphony through these seven “I am” sayings. And today the symphony hits its climactic crescendo in St. Thomas’s definitive confession. Thomas knows beyond all doubt, as Bishop Barron said that, “Someone stands at the center of the Christian concern.”

This brings me back to why I think in some important ways Protestants get Christianity right. I hope you don’t mind if I put on a Protestant hat for a minute and ask you that uncomfortable question, “Have you accepted Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?” If a Catholic cannot answer that question with confidence, then I am afraid we’re missing what is at the heart of Christianity. Again, as Bishop Barron said: “Someone stands at the center of the Christian concern.”

And if you’re having any doubts about how to answer that question, just turn to Doubting Thomas, who declared in answer to that question, “My Lord and my God.” On this feast of the great apostle to India, may St. Thomas help us overcome our doubts about who Jesus is and what he should mean to us, especially to us Catholics.

Praised be Jesus Christ!