He, She, They

Learning how to understanding the LGBTQ+ community

10/24/2023

Lk 12:13-21 Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me." He replied to him, "Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?" Then he said to the crowd, "Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one's life does not consist of possessions." Then he told them a parable. "There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. He asked himself, 'What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?' And he said, 'This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods and I shall say to myself, "Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!"' But God said to him, 'You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?' Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God."

On my way to Little Rock last week – about a two hour and fifteen minute drive – I turned on NPR radio and listened to an interview on One A. They were interviewing a man who had written a book, his name is Schuyler Bailar, and the book is called He, She, They. I was so moved by the interview that I bought the book.

If you haven’t heard of Schuyler Bailar, he was born as a woman, female. And for eighteen years lived as a female. In fact, he was recruited to swim for the Harvard Swim team, a division one swim team. And his freshman year he competed as a female on the Harvard swim team. And then he took a gap year (meaning he skipped a year of school).

He went through a transition and returned to Harvard and swam for the men’s division one swim team for the remaining three years. And this book is about his experiences and his life, and becoming a transgender person. He thought for eighteen years that the gender of his body, being female, is what he should be. But he realized that deep within himself he was a male, and went through a gender transition.

I found the book very fascinating, and he’s a very articulate person. I also believe that much of the reasoning he brings forward will be very convincing to a lot of people. I thought it was worth buying the book and reading it, and for a couple of reasons. First, because (as you might guess), I don’t fully agree with everything he says in the book.

But it’s always important to hear the other person’s argument in their own words. That is, let them present how they think, believe and feel, instead of me using my words to say, “This is what I think you believe.” Hear the argument from the person who believes that way. I think that is important. Because sometimes we put our words into other people’s mouths, and that’s not fair. Why not?

Because we don’t like it when other people put their words into our mouths. We say, no, that’s not how I look at it; I look at things like this. It’s important that we hear what others have to say in their own words. And as you can imagine, he’s very articulate since he went to Harvard.

This is the second reason I bought the book. I think this is going to be profoundly influential. This is the way more and more Americans are thinking. That this – changing your gender, being bisexual, being non-binary, being gay or lesbian, or any number of others things – is going to become normal. More and more of our society believes this.

I mention this to you this morning because while we are worried about the war in Israel – and we should be – there is also another war that is being waged. That is the war for who we are as a culture and as a society, and on what terms do we understand what it means to be human. And what is – these would be my words, not Schuyler Bailer’s words – “normal.”

I would add just two things about what I think are weaknesses in this understanding of the world. One is that I don’t hear much mention about God. In other words, there seems to be disconnect between the way Schuyler Bailar (and more and more of our society at large) will think and God on the other hand. That is the first step. Why?

Because God brings an objective norm and rules and human nature to the table. And that is the first thing that needs to be rejected. Anything that might erect a standard by how everything and everyone is measured needs to be rejected and replaced with how I feel and my personal experience. And that is why I don’t hear anything about God.

The second weakness I find in Schuyler Bailar’s understanding of the world is that it is just "this world" that he is worried about. He is not so concerned about the next world, the after life. In other words, human experience, human life is entirely exhausted in these 70, 80, 90, or 100 years we are kicking up dust on this planet. And that is all that matters.

But that is not the way we Christians believe. In fact, earthly life is just the beginning of real life, which is the next world. I often wonder how do the LGBTQ+ society think of the next world? What will that be like for them? Will there even another world after this one? And does such another world even matter in their reckoning of things?

So those are the two things I find somewhat lacking in the book I am reading. First, it does not really bring God into the picture, or at least not the God of the Bible. The Judeo-Christian God is missing from that worldview. And the other weakness is that there is only this world that seems to be their chief concern.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

The Hardest Homework

 Learning to love and pray for our enemies

10/27/2023

Mt 22:15-21 The Pharisees went off and plotted how they might entrap Jesus in speech. They sent their disciples to him, with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. And you are not concerned with anyone's opinion, for you do not regard a person's status. Tell us, then, what is your opinion: Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?" Knowing their malice, Jesus said, "Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? Show me the coin that pays the census tax." Then they handed him the Roman coin. He said to them, "Whose image is this and whose inscription?" They replied, "Caesar's." At that he said to them, "Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God."

I know the trouble in Israel and Gaza is weighing heavily on everyone’s hearts, and I want to shed a little light from our faith on that. But first to lighten the mood a little, let me share some humor. Three families sat down to eat dinner together. The hostess said to her young daughter, “Honey, would you say the blessing for us?”

The little girl hesitantly replied, “Uh, I don’t know. I don’t know what to say.” The mom responded, “Just say what you have heard Mommy say.” The little girl said, “Okay.” She closed her eyes, folded her hands, and said, “Dear God, why did I invite all these people over?” Amen.

I wonder if God has ever felt that way about all of us human beings, and said, “Dear Me, why did I ever create all these people, especially the Israelis and Palestinians who never stop fighting?” But I am convinced that God never regrets creating us. Why not? Well, for the same reason that good parents never stop loving their children, especially when they fight and cannot get along.

Several years ago my mom gave me some family homework. She asked me (probably because I am the priest) to make sure my brother, sister, and I always communicated, cared for each other, and loved each other. And by the way, that is the hardest homework assignment I have ever had!

In other words, my mom’s homework gave me a glimpse into God’s heart regarding human beings, that is, we are all his children and our homework is to make sur we communicate with each other, care for one another, and love each other unconditionally. This war in Israel and Gaza – indeed, every war – breaks God’s heart, just like seeing me and my siblings fighting breaks my mom’s heart.

Today, October 22, happens to be the feast day of Pope St. John Paul II. He is one of my saint-heroes, and I was blessed to actually meet him on several occasions, once even at a private Mass with only 24 people in his personal chapel. John Paul II made enormous contributions to the Church and to human society at large, for example, he played a critical role in the fall of Communism in 1989.

But on a very personal level, the pope-saint believed he was called to be a man of reconciliation, bringing people together. He even felt that being from Poland, a country located between the East and the West, was symbolic of his life and papacy. One of his landmark encyclicals was called Ut Unum Sint, meaning “That They May All Be One.”

That title is really words taken from Jesus’ prayer at the Last Supper in Jn 17:21. That is, Jesus prayed for the unity of his followers and ultimately, for the unity of the whole world. That was and is the desire of God the Father, just like it is the desire of every good parent. In a sense, that was the homework that the Father gave the Son, and which he completed on the Cross. Talk about the hardest homework ever!

My friends, may I give you the same homework that my mom gave me, and that God the Father gave his Son, Jesus? Pray for the peace, unity, and reconciliation among all God’s children, especially those who are fighting today, the Israelis and Palestinians. Have you ever noticed how when you pray for someone, you begin to see them differently, you see them almost like God sees them. Prayer helps us feel the love in the heart of God.

Now I am going to tell you something that I hope will not scandalize you, but it might. We are beginning our All Souls Novena, which is 9 days of Masses for the dead. We will write the names of our loved ones who have died on an envelope and make a donation, and place those envelopes on the altar.

This year, though, I am going to use two envelopes. One will be for my family and friends who have died. But the other one will be for all those who have died in the Israeli-Palestinian War. But I am also going to write “the Hamas terrorists” on the envelope, and pray for their peaceful repose. Why? Well, because no one needs our prayers more than they do. The terrorists need our prayers even more than our family and friends do.

And if you remember, this is exactly what Jesus did on the Cross, while his enemies were nailing his hands and feet to it. He prayed, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34). In other words, with his dying breath, Jesus was finishing the homework his Father had given him to do, namely, “ut unum sint” that they may all be one. And that is not only the hardest homework we have, it is really the only homework we have.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

Time of War

Separating the known from the unknown in this war

10/15/2023

Is 25:6-10a On this mountain the LORD of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines. On this mountain he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, the web that is woven over all nations; he will destroy death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face; the reproach of his people he will remove from the whole earth; for the LORD has spoken. On that day it will be said: "Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us! This is the LORD for whom we looked; let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!" For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain.

I received a text message last Saturday from a friend in Springdale asking, “How do we/Catholics feel or believe about [the Book of] revelation as it relates to end of times and today’s occurrences, example Israel’s war.” She was wondering if this war meant the end of the world, as Revelation describes it. Have you been wondering that lately?

Last Friday Oscar Burney, a high school student at Ozark Catholic Academy, said they had been discussing similar events in school, like the Israeli War. And just yesterday, a parishioner at I.C. asked me if he should arm himself in case the fighting came to Fort Smith, to protect me, of course.

At times of such fear and confusion, I find it helpful to separate what I know from what I don’t know. Why? Well, because the unknown causes fear, anxiety, and irrational behavior; whereas when we ground ourselves in what is known, we find peace and rationality. So, today I want to help you separate the “wheat of what we know” from the “chaff of what we do not know” regarding this war and the end times. Blow away the chaff and hold on to the wheat.

First, the chaff: we do not know when the world will end. Jesus states in the strongest possible terms in Mk 13:32, “But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” Now, if the angels in heaven, and even Jesus in his human nature, don’t know the exact moment of the end times, then you and I don’t either.

Nor does the guy writing the online blog who claims to know. Or, the guy whose Youtube end-of-the-world video has gone viral. In other words, the more people think it is the end of the world, then it probably isn’t. St. Paul told the Thessalonians, the end would come “like a thief in the night” (1 Thess 5:2). Thieves don’t come when everyone in the house is awake and armed.

Now let me offer you three stalks of wheat of what we do know about all this. First, if we carefully examine human history, we discover a sober fact, war is far more common than peace. Just in the last thirty years, we have endured the War in Congo, the Syrian Civil War, the Darfur Conflict, the Iraqi War, the Afghan War, the War Against Boko Haram, the Yemeni Civil War, and most recently the Russian-Ukranian War.

I remember as a teenager riding in the back of the car with my brother and sister in the backseat after Mass on Sunday. And just for a few fleeting minutes, we were perfectly quiet and at peace. And my parents kept eying us in the backseat figuring the quiet meant something was seriously wrong. And we felt it, too, and felt like someone should be fighting or arguing about something. In other words, war is humanity’s natural habitat; peace is a foreign land.

So when a war erupts in Israel and Gaza, we should not be shocked or surprised. Peace should surprise us. Ecclesiastes 3:8 says, “There is a time of war and a time of peace,” but human history is far more frequently a “time of war.” That is the first stalk of wheat of what we know. War is the norm, peace is the novelty.

The second stalk of wheat is the best way to interpret the passages of Scripture that talk about the end of the world? Now besides Revelation Jesus himself says a lot about the end times. In his last public speech called The Olivet Discourse, Jesus lays out in stunning detail “the end of the world.”

But Jesus was not predicting the end of THE whole world, but rather the end of A smaller world, namely, the Jewish world centered on the Jerusalem Temple. And that Jewish world would come to a catastrophic end in 70 A.D. when the Roman Tenth Legion under General Titus reduced that magnificent Temple to rubble. The only part of the massive Temple Mount standing today is the West Wall, called the Wailing Wall. Why? Because the Jews are wailing the end of their world.

In other words, the end of the world has already happened in the scriptural sense, with the destruction of the Old Testament. And the end of the whole world still remains above our paygrade, even above the angels’ acumen. I am convinced that this interpretation is the best way to understand those disturbing passages in Scripture that talk about “the end of the world.” And that is our second stalk of wheat: the Scriptural end times have been fulfilled.

And third stalk of wheat is how the end times is often described as the second coming of Christ, or the Parousia. And clearly we await the glorious return of Christ seated on the clouds accompanied by legions of angels to claim his rightful throne as the King of kings and Lord of lords.

But besides that ultimate Parousia at the end of time, there is also a provisional Parousia every Sunday at Mass. How so? Well, the word Parousia in Greek means not only “coming” but it also means “presence”. In the 3rd century, the word parousia was used to refer to the visit of a king or dignitary to a city – a visit arranged in order to show the king’s magnificence to the people.

When we come to Mass on Sunday, we witness the Parousia, the Presence, of Christ on the altar. And when Christ the King comes disguised in the form of Bread and Wine, we all kneel in humble adoration. The reason we kneel is the King is present and the Parousia is occurring. The priest genuflects and the altar server rings the bells (unless he forgets to).

We get a little preview of coming attractions of the second coming, the Parousia, at every Mass. That coming is what we should be preparing ourselves for, instead of carrying weapons in case the fighting comes to Fort Smith. And that is the third stalk of wheat of what we know: the second coming of Christ happens every week. Prepare for it.

During the Civil War, General Sherman famously said, “War is hell.” And maybe sometimes we need a healthy fear of hell, like this war, in order to restore our faith in heaven. Sometimes war and suffering and death makes us better Christians; whereas peace and prosperity only make us better pagans.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

Half-Brothers

Understanding the deepest level of the Arab-Israeli conflict

10/10/2023

Lk 10:38-42 Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me." The Lord said to her in reply, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her."

One of the most sinister and destructive forces in all creation has to be sibling rivalry, jealousy, and competition. That may not sound like such a terrible thing so I would like us to think about it this morning. What happened in Gn 4 as soon as Adam and Eve had their first two sons, Cain and Abel? The very first fratricide, killing your own brother, Cain murdered Abel.

But we can even trace this evil temptation back to the dawn of creation with the angels. According to Milton in “Paradise Lost”, what caused the devil, a fallen angel, to rebel against God is that he foresaw that Christ would come in the future, become human, and then carry that human nature into the Holy Trinity.

Thus, human beings, who were originally lower in creaturely status than the magnificent angels, would actually become higher than the angels. In a sense, the angels are our older brothers in creation, and jealousy of God’s preferential treatment of us caused the devil to revolt against God. We hear an echo of this in Wis 2:24, “But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world.”

In other words, not only does sibling rivalry, jealousy, and competition cause Satan to fight against God the Father, it also spurs him on to fight against his little brothers and sisters, like when Satan tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Can you see how sinister and destructive sibling rivalry can be?

It is in this context that we can gain a better perspective on the war raging in Israel today. Most news reporting is depicting Hamas as an extreme terrorist group that uses violence and lawlessness to achieve its goals. And that is true. On the other hand, Israel is depicted as an innocent bystander who has had their nation overrun by thugs and now is rightly retaliating. And that is true, too.

Most news outlets trace the conflict between Arabs and Israelis back to 1979 when President Jimmy Carter brokered the Camp David Peace Accords, creating a tenuous peace between Arabs (represented by Egypt), and Israelis. Reporters are saying repeatedly that this attack by Hamas violates essentially 50 years of peace.

But the relationship between Arabs and Israelis goes much further back than 50 years, or even 100 years, or even 1,000 years. If you carefully study history and Scripture you discover that these two ethnic groups are actually related. They the descendants of two half-brothers.

Back in Genesis 16 Abraham has relations with his maidservant, Hagar, who gives him a son, Ishmael. Thirteen years later Sarah, Abraham’s wife, bears a son whom they name Isaac. The Arabs claim to be descended from Ishmael, the older half-brother, and the Jews or Israelis believe they are the descendants of Isaac. And both sides believe God has promised the Holy Land to them and that the other side is the illegitimate usurper.

My point this morning is not to argue who is right and who is wrong, but only to suggest that the deepest level of the Arab-Israeli conflict, that we are witnessing the latest chapter of today, has a long history, almost 4,000 years, and it is rooted in sibling rivalry, jealousy, and competition. In other words, the Arabs and Israelis are two brothers who cannot get along. Sound familiar?

In the gospel today we hear the story of two sisters who cannot get along, Martha and Mary. And Jesus has to settle their dispute. Again that family in-fighting should not surprise us one bit. And the practical lesson for us today is not to jump to conclusions and vilify and demonize the Arabs, or portray the Israelis as perfectly peaceful who do not also have a violent streak.

Rather, it should cause us to examine our own families and acknowledge our own sibling rivalries and feuds. Are there brothers we do not talk to? Are there sister we have not forgiven? We find it easy to justify our silent treatment and disparagement of our siblings like the Arabs and Israelis find it justifiable to bomb each other back to the stone-age. Sibling rivalry, jealousy, and competition is one of the most sinister and destructive forces in all creation.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

The Pope’s Paygrade

Welcoming everyone without exception into the church

10/08/2023

Mt 21:33-43 Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: “Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, 'They will respect my son.' But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.' They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?" They answered him, "He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times."

A couple of weeks ago someone sent me a funny email. It was pictures of church signs with very insightful sayings. One said, “What happens in Vegas…is forgiven here.” Another very honest sign read, “Come hear our pastor, he’s not very good, but he’s quick.” The pastor clearly does not get to approve these signs. Another sign apropos to our time said, “Jesus is coming! Hopefully before the election!” Ain’t that the truth!

Another sign targeted married couples, saying, “Do not criticize your wife’s judgment. Just look at who she married!” Criticizing your spouse is a knife that cuts both ways. And here is a last one that is a little racy, and I hope you don’t mind me saying it out loud in church, but it was actually on a Catholic church sign. It read: “Lent is coming. Get your ash in church.” I practiced saying that carefully.

Now, the common thread running throughout all these signs – the serious as well as the silly – was an invitation to live our Christian faith more authentically by coming to church on Sunday. “Get your ash in church.” Why is coming to church so critical to Christianity? Well, because here we encounter not only Christ, but also our brothers and sisters in Christ. And we have to love both.

And let’s just admit that we are all sinner and all have quirks, and odd habits, and even some annoying ways of praying. But isn’t that true in every family? Every family has that odd-ball uncle or that eccentric aunt. I once heard the Church described as the Addams Family, the TV show (since we all come from Adam and Eve). That is, we are all just a bunch of lovable monsters. In church we meet all these monsters and learn to love them, because we are one of them.

The readings today describe the Church as a “vineyard” in order to highlight God’s care and concern for the Church. In the first reading Isaiah says, “Let me now sing of my friend, my friend’s song, songs concerning his vineyard.” You see, you write and sing about those you love, and God deeply loves his vineyard, his Church. The Responsorial Psalm beseeched the Lord, “Look down from heaven and see; take care of this vine, and protect what your right hand has planted.”

And in the gospel Jesus lays the blame for the poor condition of the vineyard at the feet of the religious leaders entrusted with its care. And therefore God has to send his son to die to save it. In other words, Jesus died for the Church, Addams’ Family, a bunch of lovable monsters. And that is whole point of the Church: to teach us how to love everyone like Jesus does, that is, without exception. It’s easy to love Jesus; it’s hard to love his little brothers and sisters.

It is in this context that I would like to say a word about the Synod on Synodality taking place in Rome during the month of October. You may have heard about this meeting of cardinals, bishops and lay people because it has caught the attention of the mainstream media. Sometimes the news distracts us from the main purpose of the meeting. Some outlets are saying that we may change traditional teaching about women being ordained as priests, or marriage for homosexuals, or the divorced and remarried being able to receive Holy Communion. I do not think that is the purpose of the synod, but rather, to teach us how to love everyone, all the lovable monsters that make up the Church, including me and you.

In order to avoid the hysteria and the hype, let me suggest you maintain a little balance. On the one hand, Pope Francis has said that everyone should feel welcome in the church. And he is 100% correct. In his opening homily, he declared: “Come, you who are weary and oppressed, come, you who have lost your way or feel far away, come, you who have closed the doors to hope: the church is here for you. Tutti, tutti, tutti!” That’s Italian for “Everyone, everyone, everyone!” Jesus’ love knows no limits; our love should not either.

But that openness and welcome must be balanced by acknowledging that aspects of the Catholic faith can never be compromised or cut out. Bishop Robert Barron cautioned: “But some have been suggesting that the synod ought to consider a change in the Church’s moral teaching and sacramental discipline in order to make alienated Catholics feel more included.”

Then Bishop Barron added: “We have to come to the level of real argument based on the Bible, the theological tradition, and the natural moral law.” In other words, there are some thing in Catholicism that will never change, things not even a pope can change. To put in modern parlance, “it is above the pope’s paygrade.”

One way to strike this delicate balance between welcoming everyone and teaching the authentic faith is an insight that C. S. Lewis shared in his classic Mere Christianity. He wrote: “Ever since I became a Christian I have thought that the best, perhaps the only, service I could do for my unbelieving neighbor was to explain and defend that belief that has been common to nearly all Christians at all times.” Did you catch that? “All Christians at all times.”

That is, when we seek to welcome everyone to the Synod on Synodality, we should not only think of those living in 2023, but also “all Christians at all times,” including St. Francis, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine, St. Leo the Great, etc. As the pope himself insisted, “Everyone, everyone, everyone!” And then if we take a majority vote on Church teaching at the Synod, I think you can see how some things will never change. And that, too, is how God continues to care for his vineyard, the Church, a bunch of lovable monsters.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

God and Dog

How we care for our pets and they care for us

10/04/2023

Lk 9:57-62 As Jesus and his disciples were proceeding on their journey, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus answered him, "Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head." And to another he said, "Follow me." But he replied, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father." But he answered him, "Let the dead bury their dead. But you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God." And another said, "I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to my family at home." Jesus answered him, "No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God."

Today is October 4 the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi. St. Francis is the patron saint of Pope Francis and that is why he took the name “Francis” when he was elected as pope in 2013. As everyone knows St. Francis of Assisi loved animals, so today I would like to talk to you about my dog Apollo. St. Francis would really love Apollo, and I brought a picture of him so you could see exactly what he looks like.

I got Apollo from an animal shelter when he was a 4-month-old puppy. When I brought him home someone said to me, “In the beginning you will take care of him, but later he will take care of you.” I have never forgotten that comment, and I have seen how true it is. So, I want to tell you a little about how I take care of Apollo and how he takes care of me.

I take care of Apollo by setting some rules for him. For example, I do not give him any people food, especially no Chick-Fil-A, and he only eats dog food. People food is not good for dogs. I teach him tricks, like sit and shake and to play fetch. And I give him a dog treat when he obeys my commands, again, not Chick-Fil-A.

And when we go for a walk I take a plastic bag. Can you guess why? That is so I can pick up his poop. By the way, I have a whole new respect for rain now that I have started walking my dog. I notice not everyone picks up their dog’s poop, and so I think of rain kind of like God flushing the toilet of the world. Because, after all, dogs are not the only animals that poop; they all do. So, these are some of the ways I take care of Apollo.

Now, let me tell you about some ways Apollo takes care of me. First of all, he helps me write my homilies. I always write my homilies out by hand first (like this one), and Apollo sits by my chair and watches me. Then, I read it to him. Now, if Apollo falls asleep, I know it is a boring homily, so I better change it. But he was wide awake for this homily because I am talking about him. Just like people, Apollo likes to be the center of attention. He is his own favorite subject.

Another way Apollo takes care of me is when we walk we pray the rosary together. Now, this is really cool. I say the first half of the Hail Mary, and then Apollo barks back the second half of the Hail Mary. Apollo is my prayer partner. Are you surprised? When you are a priest’s dog, you have to learn to say your prayers.

Another way Apollo takes care of me is that now perfect strangers will come up to me and talk to me. Heck, even teenagers will talk to me! If I did not have Apollo, people would see me in my priestly collar and all black clothes and think I am a weirdo, and avoid me. They think I am “goth,” someone who wears all black. But priests were goth before goth was cool.

But with Apollo at my side, or better, with me at Apollo’s side, I am a human being that you would want to talk to. Why? Because I have a super cute dog, and everyone wants to talk to a guy (even if he’s goth) with a cute dog. Dogs are a chick-magnet. So, another way Apollo takes care of me is that he makes me more human and a little less goth.

A third way that Apollo takes care of me is that he helps me be a better priest. You see, priests want to make people happy. And we try to do that by telling people about God, and hope that will make them happy. But does it? Well, sometimes it does, but sometimes it does not, like when we tell people about God’s 10 Commandments. And then people roll their eyes.

But when I talk about Apollo, or bring Apollo to visit my parents or the school children, he makes everyone light up with a huge smile, and everyone wants to pet him and play with him. It is kind of funny how the word “dog” is “God” spelled backwards. Both God and dogs try to make people happy, and that is now Apollo takes care of me as a priest: he helps me do my job.

In the gospel today Jesus says about animals: “The foxes have dens and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man (Jesus) has nowhere to rest his head.” On this feast of St. Francis, let’s take care of God’s creatures (like our pets), and God’s creation (like this planet), and make sure foxes have dens and birds have nests. Why? Well, because first we take care of the animals, and then later they will take care of us.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

Jesus’ Bros

Understanding Mary's perpetual virginity

09/26/2023

Lk 8:19-21 The mother of Jesus and his brothers came to him but were unable to join him because of the crowd. He was told, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and they wish to see you." He said to them in reply, "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it."

If you listen carefully to teenagers talking these days you will hear a new slang word that is very popular, namely, “bro.” It is short for “brother” but it does not refer to your own blood brother. For example, sometimes girls are in a group – no boys present – and one will say, “Did you go the Taylor Swift concert, bro? Bro, it was so cool!”

When I was growing up, we said “Man!” like kids use “bro” today. “Man, can you believe Willie Nelson is still on tour?!” These English idioms make it challenging for those who are learning English because they hear “bro” and think “blood brother” but for those who know how teens talk, we know it is a term of affection but not a sibling relation.

I mention this bro business because it can shed light on a little confusion in the gospel this morning. We read in Lk 8:19, “The mother of Jesus and his brothers came to him but were unable to join him because of the crowd.” Now, at first sight we might jump to the conclusion that Jesus must have had other blood brothers through Mary because Luke clearly says “his brothers.”

But like in modern English, so the Greek language used “brother” with a wider meaning than merely “blood brother.” The term brother can include blood brother, but it can also mean cousin, or another close relation, like a nephew or uncle. Again, think of our teenagers saying, “bro” today and you will begin to see how a word can have a literal meaning, but also a rhetorical meaning that is distinctly different.

I was reading a commentary on this passage in Luke, and similar passage in Mk 6 and Mt 12, and found this intriguing observation: “The question of the meaning here (the brothers of Jesus) would not have arisen but for the faith of the church in Mary’s perpetual virginity.” In other words, the correct interpretation of Jesus’ bros has as much to do with Mary as it does with Jesus. How so?

Well, Catholics believe that Jesus is the only child Mary had, and therefore these other “bros” of Jesus must be cousins or some other relation. Now, this belief in Mary’s perpetual virginity had been held consistently and unanimously by Christians for 1,500 years until the Protestant Reformation. Even though the original reformers like Martin Luther held that Mary was perpetually virgin, later reformers began to question it. Why is that?

I believe it has to do with the implication of a key Protestant tenet, namely, we are saved by “faith alone” or in Latin, “sola fide.” You have probably heard our Protestant friends, say, “If you sincerely accept Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you will be saved.” That acceptance of Christ is an act of faith, and that alone will save you. And to underscore and emphasize that faith alone saves, they discarded and deemphasized the importance of living out your faith in a life of virtue and charity. In other words, faith alone saves you, and not good works.

Now, what does faith alone, sola fide, have to do with Mary’s perpetual virginity and Jesus’ bros? Well, to the Protestant mind drawing attention to Mary’s perpetual virginity looked awfully close to “good works” and “earning” your salvation by being a virgin. And in order to highlight that Mary was like other ordinary women who have more than one child, they interpreted “the brothers of Jesus” to mean literally “blood brothers.”

That is, Mary had relations with Joseph and bore other natural children in addition to Jesus. What matters for Mary’s salvation, therefore, is faith and not works, like perpetually virginity. If you can follow the logic here, you can see how the doctrine of sola fide (faith alone) leads to the belief that Mary had other children.

Catholics, on the other hand, believe it is "both-and" when it comes to our salvation, both faith and works. We must indeed accept Christ as our personal Lord and Savior by a genuine act of faith. That is crucial and indispensable. And Mary did exactly that when she conceived Christ in her womb and in her heart at the message of an angel.

But we must also respond to Christ’s grace throughout our lives and live that faith every day. Our faith lived out in good works is what saves us, and that is what will save Jesus’ bros, too, like you and me.

Praised be Jesus Christ!