Wedding Words and Works, Part 3

Learning the spousal spirituality of the Song of Songs

06/10/2025

John Paul II completes his treatment of the wedding work by providing a special spousal spirituality reflecting deeply on the unique Old Testament books of Song of Songs and Tobit. Sooner or later, all couples experience dryness, discouragement, and sometimes even face divorce. Husband and wife feel like the unfortunate couple at Cana in John 2, who embarrassingly ran out of wine at their wedding (Jn 2:3).

Symbolically speaking, the initial inebriation of married love (the wine) of the honeymoon gives way to the staid sobriety (the water) of the honey-do list: the daily drudgery, emotional distance, bickering, and who’s turn is it to wake up with the baby? By contrast, John Paul’s analysis of Song of Songs and Tobit seeks to produce the opposite effect: to turn the water of lack-luster love back into the wine of the Lord’s love for us. And ultimately, he wants to raise a cup to the couple’s lips like at a wedding Mass so they can taste again “the best wine” (Jn 2:10), namely, Jesus.

Let me make three quick comments about the pope’s penetrating examination of the Song of Songs. First, he notes that the overall structure is not simply an inspired poem, but more of a duet or a dialogue between a lover and his beloved. John Paul remarks:

What was barely expressed in the second chapter of Genesis (vv 23-25) in just a few simple and essential words is developed here in full dialogue, or rather in a duet, in which the Bridegroom’s words are interwoven with the bride’s, and they complete each other (552).

I will never forget the loving duet by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton called “Islands in the Stream.” They sang in sync: “Islands in the stream / That is what we are / No one in between / How can we be wrong? / Sail away with me / To another world / And we rely on each other, ah, ha / From one lover to another, uh ha.” Now, Kenny and Dolly are clearly not inspired authors of Scripture. Nonetheless, they still capture the same enchanting duet and dialogue of lovers. As such, their song gives us a glimpse into the enduring appeal of the Song of Songs.

Secondly, John Paul calls our attention to the paradoxical titles that the bridegroom and the bride bestow on each other. The bridegroom says: “You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride” (Song 4:9). And for her part, the bride replies: “O that you were a brother to me, who nursed at my mother’s breast!” (Song 8:1).

The Holy Father notes that by addressing the bride as “sister” the bridegroom expresses “a disinterested tenderness” that is filled with respect and reverence for the person of the bride. John Paul recognizes the result of this disinterested love: “From here [the perspective of seeing the bride in familial terms], consequently, arises the peace that the bride speaks of” (566).

I had a professor in the seminary who suggested that whenever we feel lustful thoughts toward a beautiful woman, we should try to visualize her as a family member. How so? Well, if she were older to think of her as our mother; if she were the same age, to see her as our sister, if she were younger then as our daughter. Now I know where he got that idea! In other words, To gaze upon an attractive woman as family effectively extinguishes Cupids’ flaming arrows of eros. Purity, therefore, restores peace in relationships.

Thirdly, the pope-saint turns his attention to the highly suggestive metaphors of “a garden closed” and “a fountain sealed” (Song 4:12). John Paul maintains that these restrictive images reveal that the depths of each spouse’s personality – particularly the bride’s – remain inviolable, in a sense, out of the bridegroom’s reach, until she willingly unlocks the gates to her heart. The pope argues:

The “sister-bride” is for the man the master of her own mystery as a “garden closed” and a “fountain sealed.” The “language of the body” reread in the truth goes hand in hand with the discovery of the inner inviolability of the person (572).

The most moving depiction I have ever seen of the inviolability of the human heart was in the movie “Gandhi”, starring Ben Kingsley. The intrepid liberator of India called his countrymen to non-violent resistance to British rule. He declared:

All Indians must now be fingerprinted, like criminals [but we will not submit to this rule]...We will not strike a blow, but we will resist them…And through our pain we will make them see their injustice, and it will hurt – as all fighting hurts. They may torture my body, break my bones, even kill me. Then they will have my dead body – not my obedience.

Like citizens freely choose to obey government authority (or not), so spouses freely choose to submit to one another out of love (or not). Obedience and love reside infinitely higher than the ruthless reach of coercion.

John Paul articulates how spouses entrust the hidden depths of their personalities by becoming a gift:

The truth of the increasing closeness of the spouses through love develops in the subjective dimension “of the heart,” of affection and sentiment. In the same dimension, this is equally the discovery within oneself of the gift of the other, in some sense, of “tasting him” within oneself (574).

That is, a “fountain sealed” remains intrinsically inviolable until the person makes a gift of himself, allowing the other person to taste the depths of their love.

And then John Paul adds this concluding corollary. When the spousal gift of self has reached its maximum intensity and truth – when couples have given of themselves down to the last drop – they take a step beyond eros and reach the sublime heights of agape. That is, spouses move beyond the Old Testament world of the Song of Songs, and wade into the New Testament world of St. Paul.

John Paul seems to speak contemplatively:

[I]t seems that love here opens up before us, I would say, in two perspectives, as though that in which human eros closes its own horizon were opened further, through Paul’s words, in another horizon of love that speaks another language, the love that seems to emerge from another dimension of the person, and which calls, invites, to another communion. This love has been called agape (590).

In other words, every human love ultimately leaves the spouses thirsting for more. That is not a criticism of human love, but an important acknowledgement that we are made for divine love, for communion with God himself. As Christopher West once said: “Don’t hang your hat on a hook that cannot bear its weight.” No human spouse can bear the weight of our desire for infinite love.

And perhaps that is the most helpful insight for spousal spirituality: human love, great as it is, finally betrays a fatal flaw: it has an expiration date, but we seek a love that is eternal. Every human married couple inevitably runs out of wine, until they invite Jesus to their wedding feast, and finally realize he is “the best wine” because he alone is the eternal Bridegroom.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Wedding Words and Works, Part 2

Seeing how spouses fulfill the roles of prophets

06/09/2025

If you are just joining us, we we are in the middle of a series of homilies that began last year on Pope St. John Paul II's Theology of the Body. Last year, we reviewed Part One, where the pope-saint taught us Christ's three Words about human love in Eden, on earth, and in eternity.

Now we are following his teaching in Part Two about the sacrament of marriage, the primordial expression of God's love that human persons are privileged to experiences as spouses. More recently, we looked at how marriage is like Mt. Everest in its reach and relevance to Catholic theology. And now we are considering "the wedding work," that is, the brides and groom's words and works as they live this primordial sacrament.

According to the John Paul II, another way spousal body language teaches the do’s and don’t’s of the social intercourse of heaven is by fulfilling the role of a prophet. Just as the prophets of the Old Testament – John Paul highlights the ministry of Isaiah, Hosea, and Ezekiel (pp. 535-37) – taught Israel how they should relate to God, their Bridegroom, so spousal love models how Christians should relate to Christ, our Bridegroom.

This is one sense of what the pope means when he claims that “human life is by its nature ‘co-educational’,” namely, spouses educate each other as prophets educate others, and spouses together become a prophetic team to educate the world. But John Paul insists that the spouse’s bodies fulfill this prophetic mission in a singular way:

On the basis of the “prophetism of the body,” ministers of the sacrament of Marriage perform an act of prophetic character…A “prophet” is one who expresses with human words the truth that comes from God, one who speaks this truth in the place of God, in his name and in some sense with his authority (539).

In other words, just as we must learn the different social mores and etiquette to successfully navigate cultures on earth – burping at the dinner table may be acceptable in Shanghai but not in Shreveport – so the body language of spouses instruct us in the mores and etiquette of eternity; the do’s and don’t’s of heaven. Thus, the bodies of spouses serve as prophets who speak for God.

The Holy Father adds another, and perhaps the most crucial, point about spousal body language, namely, this language can be either true or false; it can be honest or lie. And the best way to measure the truth and falsity of body language is by using the gauge of the wedding vows. In this sense, we might say that spousal body language occurs on two valences or levels, like protons and neutrons revolve at difference valences around an atom.

At one valence, spouses speak the truth by body language that accurately reflects the words they spoke at their wedding, that is, by being loving, attentive, generous, forgiving, cheerful, and so forth. At the other valence, however, the body can communicate falsely by contracting the wedding vows, being egotistical, petty, vain, duplicitous, lazy, etc. John Paul puts it in extreme terms: “[T]he body tells the truth through faithfulness and conjugal love, and, when it commits “adultery” it tells a lie, it commits falsehood” (538).

Let me give you some practical parallels. I’ve noticed that some professional tennis players will in effect “lie” with their body language on the court. Once I saw Carlos Alcaraz playing against a less skilled player, and he turned his gaze toward one side of the court, as if he were about to hit the ball there. His look fooled his opponent who moved in that direction. But Alcaraz actually directed the ball toward the other side of the court and easily won the point. The eyes of his body “said” one thing, but his shot said the opposite.

Basketball players lie with their bodies by doing a no-look pass deceiving the other team. Baseball pitchers lie with their bodies by trying to catch a player leaning off first base by a quick throw to get him out. Football quarterbacks lie by a pump-fake to cause the cornerback to come forward so they can throw a long pass. Lying with the body is helpful in sports, but it is harmful between spouses.

Why would married couples ever engage in such deceptive body language? John Paul recalls his earlier analyses about concupiscence (pp. 282-92) to explain why the spouses’ bodies might speak falsely or lie. In previous miles we discovered that concupiscence is the residual fall out from Original Sin (even after that sin has been forgive by Baptism). That is, concupiscence is a violent rupture in man’s interior experience of Original Solitude, Original Unity, and Original Nakedness, the three syllables of Christ’s First Word.

Whereas in Genesis 2 – before they committed Original Sin – Adam and Eve conversed through their body language truly and genuinely – indeed, effortlessly – and without any hint of dishonesty. Their body language, like their bodies themselves, were truly “naked” and without any pretense or posturing. Adam and Eve would have been “turrible” NBA players as Charles Barkley says. Their bodies were utterly incapable of throwing a no-look pass.

However, beginning in Genesis 3 (with the dawn of Original Sin), their bodies start to send false and deceptive signals, in fact, they learned to lie. The pope describes how Adam and Eve’s legacy of lying – a very apt analogy for concupiscence – continues to plague married couples today:

[W]e realize that the one who rereads this “language” and then expresses it not according to the needs proper to marriage as a covenant and sacrament, is naturally and morally the man of concupiscence: male and female, both [man and woman] understood as the “man of concupiscence” (545).

In other words, couples who are consumed by concupiscence fail to communicate through their bodies the simple truth of their wedding vows but rather speak falsely and contradict those vows. They are no longer holy prophets but unholy prevaricators, like Judas, a false prophet, who betrayed Jesus, the true Prophet, with a kiss.

Learning to read and speak this spousal body language, then, is the real “wedding work” of our third bucket of marriage preparation. When we arrive at our wedding day, we should focus not simply on the externals of whether the bride’s train will be 2 feet or 12 feet long or if you want 2 levels or 4 levels on the wedding cake.

Rather, our attention should absorbed by the internals of the depth of meaning of the wedding vows, and catching the social, spiritual, and sexual cues that create a life-long “consortium vitae” for earth and heaven, that is, a true partnership of life embracing every aspect. And that would not be such a “turrible idea.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Wedding Words and Works, Part 1

Looking closer at the “wedding work” of marriage preparation

06/07/2025

Several miles ago in this long walk with Jesus, I shared that when I prepare couples for marriage, I break-down that complex, 6-month process by saying we fill in effect three buckets. The first bucket we call the paperwork, the second bucket is the heart work (the hard work!), and the third bucket I refer to as the wedding work, all the details and drama of the big wedding day.

In a sense, Pope St. John Paul II also directs our attention to the wedding work, more precisely, the wedding vows and subsequent sexual consummation, which he appropriately entitles: “The Dimension of the Sign.” Why? Well, the sacramental sign of marriage consists not only in the union of hearts but also in the union of bodies.

But frequently the bride – or more often the mother of the bride – becomes a bridezilla. That is, she gets so caught up in the externals – the dress, the flowers, the photography, the reception, etc. – that she all but forgets the internals – the meaning of the vows, the life-long commitment, the unspoken language of the body, the witness to divine love, etc.

In this third bucket of the wedding work, then, John Paul II does not want us to miss precisely these internals, or what we might call the spirituality of the wedding day. And he does this by demonstrating how the theology of the body becomes body language.

Incidentally, in chapter two we also find those 31 extra pages that did not form part of the pope’s original material on the Theology of the Body. In the interest of other pressing papal priorities, John Paul decided to excise portions of his rich reflections on the Song of Songs and Tobit.

Michael Waldstein, the pope’s translator, however, supplied both the excluded and the included material in his version of John Paul’s masterwork, Man and Woman He Created Them. Waldstein explains why he enlarged the papal book in this manner:

Pope John Paul II had originally prepared six catecheses [Wednesday audience addresses] on the Song of Songs and three on Tobit…on the basis of the pre-papal book manuscript…For actual delivery [however], John Paul II cut the original text to less than half by marking…which paragraphs were to be read…In this edition, the two versions [the delivered and the undelivered] are printed synoptically on facing pages (732).

So, whereas the pope’s book contained 53 pages on chapter two, Waldstein’s edition contains 84 pages. Who knows, maybe by adding duplicating pages, Waldstein could charge a little more for his editor’s cut edition.

In every culture and civilization, social intercourse is governed not only by written, codified rules of engagement – like the U.S. Constitution, and traffic laws like stop at a red light, go at a green light – but also by unspoken, assumed mores, or etiquette. For example, here in the United States, people would be offended if someone burped while eating supper.

Indeed, parents scold small children who think burping at the table is funny and attention-getting. But in other cultures – China, India, Turkey, and generally in the Middle East – people consider burping, even belching, after eating a compliment to the chef. What is traditional and valuable in Asia is taboo and verboten in America.

Many years ago while I was vocation director I visited Bishop J. Peter Sartain at his episcopal residence in Little Rock. We were having a very engaging discussion and Bishop Sartain is always an attentive and jovial interlocutor. At several points I noticed he made several slight yawns.

But I shrugged it off figuring his was a little tired but I felt fine so I kept talking. Later I learned a polite yawn is a signal that it is time to wrap up the conversation and go home. I completely missed that unspoken social cue, the unwritten but critical rules of social intercourse necessary for healthy and happy relationships.

In chapter two of Part Two, John Paul wants to teach us the highly valuable yet unwritten rules of engagement based on the wedding work. He zeroes in on how the words the couple utters in the wedding vows are later expressed exactly by the language of the body, especially – although not exclusively – through sexual intimacy.

In every true marriage, therefore, a couple has to show evidence of their love by both the words of marriage and the works of marriage. In Latin that is called “ratum et consummatum” – marriage is ratified by the words and sealed by sexual intercourse. In a sense, John Paul does not want married couples to miss these social cues for a healthy and happy marriage like I missed my cue with Archbishop Sartain.

The Holy Father maintains further that when these two essential aspects of married life – the spoken vows and the unspoken body language of intimacy – are seamlessly combined, the married couple stands before the world as a sign of God’s grace operative in the world through the sacrament of marriage.

Don’t forget that John Paul titled this chapter “The Dimension of the Sign.” In other words, their wedding words and work constitute a sign language that speaks loudly not only to each other as spouses but to the world, indeed, to the entire cosmos. Thus, John Paul asserts:

[A]t the moment of contracting marriage, the man and woman, with the suitable words and re-reading the perennial “language of the body” form a sign, an unrepeatable sign, which also has a future-oriented meaning, “all the days of my life,” that is, until death. This is the visible and efficacious sign of the covenant with God in Christ, that is, of grace (533-34).

Put differently, the Theology of the Body helps us interpret or translate the marital language of the body – the couple’s wedding words and works – into a very specific sign language, namely, as the sign of grace that guides the social intercourse of heaven. Thus these words and works of marital love alert us not to the mores prevalent in Manhattan or Milan, but rather to the etiquette pervading the high society of eternity.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

The Case Against Christianity

Living a counter-cultural Christian faith

06/01/2025

Acts 1:1-11 In the first book, Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught until the day he was taken up, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them by many proofs after he had suffered, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While meeting with them, he enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for “the promise of the Father about which you have heard me speak; for John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

The annual feast of the Ascension of Jesus into heaven always causes confusion and not a little conflict in the Church. Have you seen the funny meme floating around on Facebook about it? It depicts a classical painting of Jesus’ Ascension and has these words from Jesus: “I am now going to my Father…unless you live in certain regions in which case I’ll be around until Sunday.”

In other words, Catholics cannot make up our minds when to celebrate the Ascension. Some diocese – like Little Rock – wait to celebrate the Ascension on Sunday. But other dioceses celebrate it on Thursday. Why the diff? Well, Thursday would be exactly 40 days after Easter, which is when our first reading from Acts 1 said Jesus ascended into heaven. It used to be called “Ascension Thursday.”

But some bishops feel Catholics will not come to another holy day of obligation in the middle of the week, so they move the feast to the following Sunday since we're already coming to Mass. How do you feel about that strategy toward holy days? Personally, I prefer to celebrate the Ascension back on Thursday, like it says in the Bible. Why? Well, I worry that we are slowly caving in to our culture and living our faith only when it is convenient or easy.

I will never forget Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s stern warning to be counter cultural. He thundered from the pulpit: “Dead fish float down-stream! It takes live fish to fight against the current.” In other words, are we willing to suffer even a little for our faith, or are we quick to wave the white flag of surrender, and go with the flow of everyone around us?

One of my favorite books by Henri de Lubac, called The Drama of Atheistic Humanism, renders a similar guilty verdict on modern Catholics. He asks rhetorically: “Do the unbelievers who jostle us at every turn observe on our brows the radiance of that gladness, which twenty centuries ago, captivated the fine flower of the pagan world?”

He continued: “Are our hearts the hearts of men risen with Christ? Do we, in our time, bear witness to the Beatitudes?” (122-23). Let me put the problem a little more personally: when our children go away to college, how many of them still practice the faith? Did we raise them to be live fish who fight the cultural current, or dead fish who go with the flow?

Here are a few strategies to be live fish and swim upstream. For instance, Fort Smith people are funny when a new restaurant opens. For one week everyone rushes to eat there, but a few weeks later we have all but forgotten about it. Instead of following the crowd, cook a meal at home, and eat together as a family. And leave the TV off, and don’t bring phones to the table. Swim against that current.

Many people will take a week or two of vacation this summer. Make it a point to make it to Mass on Sundays. Sometimes parishioners take a selfie at the church where they attended, and send it to me saying, “See, Fr. John, we made it to Mass!” Others bring me a bulletin from the church as a “proof of purchase” for going to Mass. Swim against the current to skip Mass during the summer.

When you move into a new house or apartment, invite the priest or deacon over to bless it (of course you feed him dinner). Hang a crucifix or Sacred Heart of Jesus painting in a prominent place in your home. Participate in our Corpus Christi procession on June 22 walking through the streets of Fort Smith. Be a live fish and show the world you’re not ashamed to be Catholic.

Hang a rosary from your rearview mirror, and pray the rosary while driving so you don’t yell at other crazy drivers. Like the old Christian self-examination: if you were put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? Only a live fish could be convicted of being a Christian.

By the way, speaking of fish, did you know that the fish was a symbol of Christianity in the early Church? If you lived in the Roman Empire and met a stranger and you didn’t know they were Christian, you might draw an arc in the sand with the toe of your sandal. If the other person were a Christian, they would draw an opposite arc and complete the outline of a fish. That’s where Catholics got the name of “Fish-eaters.”

But the fish symbol meant more than a secret Christian code to identify one another. The letters for fish in Greek are actually an acronym for the whole Christian faith. Fish in Greek is ΙΧΘΥΣ. The letters stand for “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior” a perfect summary of the entire faith, all found in a fish. In the Roman Empire Christians were counter-cultural.

Indeed, so counter-cultural that they were put on trial, convicted for their Christianity, and fed to the lions, because there was plenty of proof against them. As we Christian fish swim around in our modern American culture, do we fight the current or just float downstream? Perhaps one place to start building a case against us is by coming to Mass on Ascension Thursday.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

In a Class by Itself, Part 5

Rounding out our reflections on the Mt. Everest of marriage

05/31/2025

In Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, the fellowship of the ring led by Gandalf decides to burrow into the deep tunnels dug by dwarfs rather than attempting to climb the Misty Mountains exteriorly. Our path on the Mt. Everest of marriage now also turns away from the daunting outside to the dark inside as we follow the lead of Pope St. John Paul II’s theology of the body.

Our papal Sherpa leads us through two tunnels at the end of chapter one of Part Two. First, John Paul explains that marriage is indissoluble, that term expresses the words of the wedding vows that couples say: “Till death do us part.”

And the pope-saint leads us through a second tunnel showing us that every child born from a marriage brings an undying hope to the family. An old Spanish adage says: “Every child is born with a loaf of bread under his arm.” Every baby is born as a beacon of hope.

I help couples understand the importance of indissolubility by joking: “I don’t care how big your biceps are, you cannot tear apart what God puts together.” After all, Jesus declared in Mt 19:6, “Therefore what God has joined let man not separate.” In other words, marriage’s indissolubility flows far more from what God does at a wedding than what the couple does.

The Holy Father goes a step further by connecting this indissolubility to the inner life of God, saying: “To such a unity and such a communion of Persons [Persons of the Holy Trinity], are dedicated Christ’s words referring to marriage as the primordial sacrament” (517).

The root reason marriage is indissoluble, therefore, is because spouses are caught up in a love that is far more than human; God’s grace raptures them up into the eternal love beating in the heart of the Holy Trinity. Consequently, spouses should not divorce because the Holy Trinity does not divorce. This is the deepest meaning of indissolubility.

John Paul will state this with even greater precision:

When Christ…confirms marriage as a sacrament instituted by the Creator “at the beginning” – when he accordingly requires its indissolubility – he thereby opens marriage to the salvific action of God[‘s grace], to the powers…which help to overcome the consequences of sin, and to build the unity of man and woman (518).

God never asks us to do something for which he does not give us the proper tools. God gives every married couple the mission – sometimes it feels like a “mission impossible” – of being an unbreakable mirror of the Holy Trinity.

I have worked with married couples who stay together even after one of them commits adultery because they both draw on those “powers which help them overcome the consequences of sin, and to build the unity of man and woman.” Indissolubility is the “mission impossible” called marriage.

A second tunnel John Paul invites us to explore is the “hope of everyday” that every baby brings by its birth. One of my favorite professors at the University of Dallas was Dr. Janet Smith. She taught philosophy but she had the uncanny knack for making it practical. One day she said very memorably: “Having a baby is like induced maturity.”

She went on to elaborate: “When you are just a couple, it is easy to be selfish and only worry about yourself. But the day you have a baby you start thinking about how safe the playgrounds are, what shows are on television, who is the chief of police, who’s on the school board, etc.” Babies, in other words, grow us adults up.

Michael Waldstein, the translator of the theology of the body, breaks down John Paul often complex language into baby talk that heck even I can understand. He explains how babies give their parents the hope of Christian maturity:

"Life according to the Spirit also expresses itself in mutual knowledge (Genesis 4:1), by which the spouses submit their masculinity and femininity to the blessing of fruitfulness [birthing babies, as we say]. It expresses itself in the deep awareness of the holiness of the new life to which both give rise” (755).

I will never forget my brother’s words when he described how he felt holding his first-born son in the delivery room. First, he felt a wave of love wash over him. He knew he could die for this baby. Then he felt not a wave but a tsunami of responsibility for this baby. He was responsible for the baby's every need. Can you say “induced maturity”? Every baby brings the hope that their parents will grow up.

Of course, this is not an infallible hope – hope intrinsically carries a certain uncertainty – as we can see all around us. Grandparents are raising grandchildren because parents have summarily abdicated their parental duties. And the scourge of abortion has not significantly abated in spite of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

Nonetheless, every baby brings a bright hope from heaven. And that is precisely why they come to earth: to remind us our true hope lies in heaven, that is, in God’s grace, and where, finally, “God will be all in all” (1 Co 15:25).

Perhaps we can now briefly summarize the long mile we have covered in walking around and admiring the magnificent Mt. Everest of marriage. Following our faithful Sherpa, John Paul II, we scaled the sides of marriage by four passes. First, we discovered how marriage helps us see the Church as both the Body and the Bride of Christ.

Second, we learned how divine grace is best understood as a gift, especially in light of the gift of the body spouses exchange in sexual intimacy. Third, we reflected on the similarity between the Father’s creation in the beginning and the Son’s redemption in the end as both reflecting the love of the triune God.

All salvation history is a marital affair from beginning to end. And fourth we saw how marriage shed its lucid light on the other six sacraments, shining on their hidden depths as six aspects of the mystical marriage with Christ. Jesus the Bridegroom loves us “in the spousal way” which is none other than the sacramental way.

But then our fearless Sherpa led us into the darker but no less divine tunnels within the mountain of marriage. He pointed out how marriage is indissoluble and unbreakable, like the love of the indivisible Holy Trinity.

And in a second tunnel John Paul helped us discover the hope that every baby brings to his or her parents, but also to the whole world. Babies make us more human, and their greatest hope is to make us more Christian. The loaf of bread every baby brings may turn out to be the Eucharist.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

In a Class by Itself, Part 4

The third and fourth passes over the Mt. Everest of marriage

05/30/2025

For those who have not been at morning Mass this week, this is the fourth homily in a series on Pope St. John Paul II’s theology of the body. So, good luck keeping up with it. Our spiritual Sherpa John Paul II guides us up a third pass over the Mt. Everest of marriage which turns out to be a dual passage, and transforms the doctrines of creation and redemption.

That is, John Paul proposes that both God the Father’s handiwork in creation as well as God the Son’s sacrifice for redemption are best understood in terms of marriage. The divine apple doesn’t fall far from the divine tree, so Jesus confesses in Jn 5:19: “The Son cannot do anything on his own but only what he sees his Father doing for what he does his son will do also.”

Every artist, author, musician, sculptor, chef, architect, in a word, every creator leaves traces of himself or herself in their works, like you see cameos of Alfred Hitchcock in his movies. Theologians call the traces that God leaves of himself in creation “vestigia Dei” literally “footprints of God.”

Our pope-saint maintains that marriage is the most unmistakable footprint of God in creation; indeed, marriage carries God’s very image and likeness (Gn 1:26). John Paul explains:

The words of Genesis 2:24, “the man will…unite with his wife, and the two will be one flesh,” spoken on the background of this original reality [of creation] in the theological sense, constitute marriage as an integral part and in some sense the central part of the “sacrament of creation” (506).

The key words “integral part” and “central part” make me think not only of footprints but in particular of how DNA functions in living organisms.

Just like DNA provides the biological genetic material that communicates structure and purpose to living organisms – their raison d’être in French – so marriage serves as basic theological genetic material giving structure and purpose to creation as a whole. In other words, marriage reveals why God bothered to create in the first place. Marriage is the DNA of creation.

When I studied at the University of Dallas, I took a class called “Junior Poet.” We chose a famous poet, read all his or her works, as well as their criticism, and were grilled at the end of the semester by three literature professors. So I chose Gerard Manley Hopkins because he wrote the fewest poems at only 74. Maybe I could manage that many.

Gerard Manley Hopkins put this theological genetic code into poetry: “The world is charged with the grandeur of God. It will flame out like shining from shook foil.” Theologically-speaking, therefore, every molecule in the universe carries a spark of God’s grandeur. That is, God’s trinitarian love most clearly seen in marriage was the Big Bang that brought everything into existence.

On the other side of this dual pass, John Paul teaches that the mystical marriage of Christ and the Church carries the theological genetic code for redemption (the sacrifice of the Cross) because by it God the Son brings about “a new creation” (2 Co 5:17). Ponder this papal passage charged with the grandeur of God:

This redemptive gift of self “for” the Church also includes – according to Pauline thought – Christ’s gift of self to the Church, in the image of the spousal relation that unites husband and wife in marriage. In this way, [what Christ accomplished in] the sacrament of redemption clothes itself, so to speak, in the figure and form of the primordial sacrament [of marriage, what the Father accomplished in creation] (508).

In other words, the mystical marriage of Christ and the Church provides new theological language to describe Christ’s saving death, which ushers in nothing short of “a new heavens and a new earth” (Rv 21:1). Like Father, like Son.

John Paul sees these two passes intersecting in every marriage and therefore articulated eloquently in Ephesians. He muses:

In this way the Mystery hidden from all eternity in God [God as triune love] – a mystery that in the beginning in the sacrament of creation became a visible reality through the union of the first man and the first woman in the perspective of marriage – becomes in the sacrament of redemption a visible reality in the indissoluble union of Christ with the Church, which the author of Ephesians presents as the spousal union of the two, husband and wife (509).

In John Paul II’s estimation marriage stands as “the primordial sacrament” because it, more than anything else in creation or redemption, serves as the theological DNA where we detect the vestigia Dei of both Father and the Son.

Our papal Sherpa points us to a fourth and final pass over the Mt. Everest of marriage to reach its summit by seeing marriage as the prototype and pattern for the other six sacraments, even the Eucharist. The pope is not shy about stressing this audacious aspect of marriage:

If we reflect deeply on this dimension [of the whole sacramental order], we have to conclude that all the sacraments of the New Covenant find their prototype in some way in marriage as the primordial sacrament (511).

Let’s look briefly at how marriage gives their marching order to each of the other sacraments.

John Paul immediately notes that Baptism and Eucharist, easily find enormous meaning in the light of marriage. He writes:

This text [of Eph 5:26, “make her holy with the washing of water accompanied by the word”] without any doubt speaks about the sacrament of Baptism…the Eucharist…seems to be indicated by the following words…: everyone nourishes and cares for his body “as Christ does with the Church, because we are members of his body” (Eph 5:29-30) (514).

Beyond Baptism and Eucharist, we likewise observe marriage’s prototypical function in Confirmation as our Lord beautifying his Bride with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Through confession, Jesus forgives his backsliding Bride of her sins.

By the Anointing of the Sick, Jesus purifies and prepares his Bride for the eternal nuptials of heaven. Through the men called to Holy Orders Jesus demonstrates the love of a Bridegroom for his Bride. And this is the root reason why every sacrament without exception begins and ends by invoking the Holy Trinity, whose divine DNA is enshrined in every marriage reflecting God's triune love: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

We have reached, therefore, the summit of the Eucharist seated atop the Mt. Everest of marriage by means of yet a fourth pass: marriage as the model of every sacrament. The pope succinctly summarizes that the seven sacraments are how Christ loves his Bride the Church “in the spousal way” (478). The spousal way simply means the sacramental way. Look around: can you see how majestic this Mt. Everest of marriage is? From its peak you can see everything else better.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

In a Class by Itself, Part 3

Accompanying our papal-Sherpa on two passes over Everest

05/29/2025

Did you see the astounding news on Tuesday, May 27, that Kami Rita a Sherpa in Nepal has reached the summit of Mt. Everest a record 31 times? Most people are overjoyed to do that once in a lifetime. Our papal Sherpa Pope St. John Paul II only wants to crest the sacramental Mt. Everest of marriage a modest 4 times.

In four passes our pope-Sherpa will show us how marriage redefines Catholic theology in four ways: first, in understanding the Church, second in the notion of grace, third in the way God the Father creates, and fourth, in the way God the Son redeems.

The Holy Father’s first pass up Mt. Everest of marriage is to see how marriage redefines the doctrine of the Church both as Christ’s Bride as well as Christ’s Body. John Paul II enlists the letter to the Ephesians to bring out new features of these two spousal aspects of the Church.

For example, John Paul explores how Christ keeps his bride “eternally young,” explaining:

The “glorious” Church is the one “without spot or wrinkle.” “Spot” can be understood as a sign of ugliness, “wrinkle” as a sign of growing old and indicate moral defects, sin. One can add that in St. Paul the “old man” signifies the man of sin (Rom 6:6). Christ, therefore, with his redemptive and spousal love brings it about that the Church not only becomes sinless, but remains “eternally young” (483).

Remember that song by Alphaville, “Forever young, I want to be forever young”? Well, being married to Jesus as his Bride the Church is the true fountain of youth and beauty, meaning being innocent and impeccable. How so? Well, Jesus communicates his own eternal youth (sinlessness and glory) to his Bride, the Church, just like all loving spouses share everything in common.

Secondly, the Holy Father reflects on how Christ becomes “one body” with his Bride. Isn’t this one flesh union of spouses the deepest meaning of the moment of Holy Communion? Our human body becomes one with the divine Body of Christ. The moment of Communion is strikingly similar to the moment of the consummation of newlyweds on their wedding night.

St. Augustine draws out one dramatic implication from this Eucharistic union with Christ in the end, that is, at the “resurrection of the dead.” In the last book of his classic The City of God, the Doctor of Grace suggests:

As for what the apostle said of the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ [Ep 4:13]…if we are to refer it to the resurrection of the body, the meaning is that all shall rise neither beyond nor under youth, but in that vigor and age to which we know that Christ had arrived. For even the world's wisest men have fixed the bloom of youth at about the age of thirty; and when this period has been passed, the man begins to decline towards the defective and duller period of old age (Bk XXII, Ch 15).

That is, our resurrected bodies will enjoy the same age as Jesus’ resurrected body. Back when I was thirty years old, they called me, “Father What-A-Waste.”

Consider how John Paul puts this “bloom of youth”:

There is no doubt that Christ [the Groom] is a subject distinct from the Church [the Bride]; [but] still in virtue of a particular [spousal] relationship, he makes himself one with her in an organic union of head and body; the Church is so strongly, so essentially herself in virtue of a union with the (mystical) Christ (480).

St. Joan of Arc’s response to an illegitimate and vindictive church tribunal that accused of witchcraft is enshrined for our edification in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

A reply of St. Joan of Arc to her judges sums up the faith of the holy doctors and the good sense of the believer: "About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they're just one thing, and we shouldn't complicate the matter" (CCC, 795).

Jesus becomes one with the Church, and makes her “eternally young”, sharing with her the glory of his own resurrected body. Thus, “THE Sacrament” of marriage illuminates ecclesiology (the theology of the Church), and opens up before us the first passage up the mighty mountain of marriage.

John Paul II finds a second approach up the Mt. Everest of marriage by redefining the doctrine of grace under the aspect of gift. In our earlier examination of Original Unity, we learned that “being a gift to someone” was the opposite of “using someone.” If you use someone you cannot claim to love them.

On the other hand, gift and love are interchangeable terms in the Theology of the Body. Whenever my mom writes a letter or note, at the top of the paper she quotes 1 Jn 4:7, which reads: “God is love.” My mom could substitute the word “gift” for “love” and not change in the least the meaning of that passage. She could just as easily write: “God is gift.”

Let me give you a concrete example of how spouses should be a gift to each other and thereby open our eyes to a new meaning of divine grace. When couples come for marriage preparation, one in a battery of questions I ask is this: “Do you agree to give each other the normal rights of marriage necessary to have children?”

That awkwardly articulated question actually implies that each spouse will enjoy “rights” over the body of the other spouse. The wife’s body belongs to the husband and vice versa. More to the point, they can ask for sex – within reason and at reasonable times – because each has relinquished his or her rights over their own body to the other.

Something similar happens sacramentally between Christ and his Bride, the Church, and brightly illuminates the reality of grace. As a priest I not only represent Christ to you, I also represent the Church (Christ’s Bride) to the Lord. And, therefore – I shudder to assert this – I exercise certain “rights” over Christ’s Body. For example, I could hypothetically get out of bed at 3 a.m. and celebrate Mass in the rectory chapel.

When I utter the words of consecration over the bread – “This is my body” – Jesus is obligated (obviously out of love) to wake up and transubstantiate that bread into his own Body and give it to me as the gift of the Eucharist. After all, I just said, “This is my body” (emphasis on the possessive “my” meaning it belongs to Fr. John). At Holy Communion at 3 a.m., therefore, I become sacramentally one body with Jesus, analogous to the one-flesh union of spouses.

Every time our parish community gathers for Mass, the Bride of Christ asks for her “matrimonial rights” over the Body of Christ, and Jesus gives himself to us as a gift, as any good and loving spouse would do. The pope explains how becoming gift – especially like the bodily gift of spouses – casts an almost blinding light on the theology of grace:

The analogy of the love of spouses (or spousal love) seems to emphasize above all the aspect of God’s gift of himself to man who is chosen “from ages” in Christ (literally, his gift of self to “Israel,” to the “Church”); a gift that is in its essential character, or as a gift, total (or rather “radical”) and irrevocable…In this way the analogy of spousal love indicates the “radical” character of grace: of the whole order of created grace (501).

By the way, the word “radical” originates from the Latin word “radix” meaning “root.” Therefore, to say like John Paul that “spousal love indicates the radical character of grace” is to suggest in the strongest possible terms that grace is rooted in giftedness, which itself find its own radix (root) in God who is love, or as my mom might write on her notes “God is gift.” In other words, grace is at root a gift like spouses give each other the gift of their bodies.

Again, we crest the Eucharistic summit of the Mt. Everest of marriage by examining the theology of saving grace (soteriology) in terms of Jesus’ total, unconditional, and radical self-gift of his Body and Blood to his Bride the Church. Is it not becoming breathtakingly clear (it is hard to breathe atop Mt. Everest) how the limpid light of the Theology of the Body is shining on every nook and cranny of Catholic doctrine?

Praised be Jesus Christ!

In a Class by Itself, Part 2

Continuing our study of John Paul II's theology of the body

05/28/2025

John Paul II dons the armor of the defender of the bond of marriage by reflecting deeply on St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. Indeed, Ephesians even ends with an exhortation to put on the armor of God, and therefore we should all defend the great goods of the Gospel. We read in Ephesians 6:

Therefore take the whole armor of God…having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace; besides all these, taking the shield of faith…And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ep 6:13, 14-17).

St. John Paul touches on this knight’s errand observing:

[W]e should add that the whole letter [to the Ephesians] ends with a stupendous encouragement to spiritual battle (see Eph 6:10-20)…That appeal for spiritual battle seems to be logically based on the argumentation of the whole letter. It is, so to speak, the explicit point of arrival of its main guiding lines (472).

Hence, we might picture our pope-saint as a knight in shining armor, defending the bond of marriage, a damsel in distress. Isn’t marriage hemmed in by enemies approaching on all sides these days?

The Holy Father is positively effusive about the whole letter to the Ephesians, but he especially dotes on chapter 5. You know how all brides want Ephesians 5 read at their wedding, where St. Paul says, “Wives be submissive to your husbands.”

But if brides really studied Ephesians, they would agree with John Paul who lavishes it with compliments, like: “the crowning of the themes and truths that ebb and flow like long waves through the Word of God” (p. 467), and “that stupendous page” (p. 468), or “an utterly unique eloquence” (p. 473), and “[t]his splendid formulation of Ephesians” (p. 498), and so forth.

But John Paul also urges us not to forget the ground we have previously covered in our long walk with Jesus and how the Master taught us to speak the lexicon of love. That is, we will not be able to adequately appreciate or accurately appraise Ephesians until we demonstrate fluency in speaking the three Words of Christ from Part One.

Thus the pope reminds us:

What is contained in the passage of Ephesians [5:22-33] is the “crowning,” as it were, of these other [three] comprehensive key words [of Christ]. Since the theology of the body emerged from them in its evangelical [gospel] outline, simple and at the same time fundamental, we must in some sense presuppose this theology in interpreting the passage from Ephesians just quoted” (466).

In other words, only if we can utter these three words in conversing with Christ, will we be able to discover the deepest meaning of marriage, and finally agree with John Paul that it is “THE sacrament.”

If you had to pick which one of the seven sacraments – Baptism, Confirmation, Confession, Eucharist, Holy Orders, Marriage, or Anointing of the Sick – is the greatest and most glorious, which one would you pick? If we asked the Catechism of the Catholic Church, it would resoundingly answer:

The Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life." The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch. (CCC, no. 1324).

Put colloquially, it doesn’t get any better sacramentally than the Eucharist! And John Paul would agree with a hearty “Amen!”

And yet, he would also insist that there is something “primordial” even “preeminent” about the sacrament of marriage. So how do we square the superiority of the Holy Mass with the sublimity of Holy Marriage? Think of the Eucharist as the apex and peak of the Christian life (“the sacramental summit”), while marriage is the enormous mountain which shoulders the Eucharist on its pinnacle. Paraphrasing Isaac Newton: “If the Eucharist has seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of the giant of marriage.”

John Paul articulates a similar role for marriage in relation to the Eucharist in this rather packed passage:

One can say that the visible sign of marriage “in the beginning” [the two “become one flesh” (Gn 2:24)] inasmuch as it is linked to the visible sign of Christ and the Church on the summit of God’s saving economy [the Eucharistic summit, where Christ becomes one flesh with his bride, the Church], transposes the eternal plan of love [of the Trinity] into the historical dimension and makes [marriage] the foundation of the whole sacramental order (503).

In other words, the sacramental Mt. Everest of marriage allows the whole world – indeed the whole cosmos – to admire and adore the Eucharist perched on its peak.

In every long walk, the road eventually begins to rise and often leads up a mountain. I remember visiting Ireland with then-Fr. (now bishop) Erik Pohlmeier. We were planning to climb the famous Croagh Mountain of St. Patrick. An Irish father and his son were working at the base of the mountain and we stopped briefly to talk with them and get our bearings.

The teenage son kept complaining about how hard the climb was going to be, and he predicted that frequently the weather at the top was often turbulent. The father scolded the son saying: “Now, don’t knock the piss out of ‘em!” Well, I hope not to “knock the piss out of ‘ya” as we begin to ascend this mighty Mt. Everest called marriage, which is far steeper and can be stormier than Croagh Mountain.

In Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” Gandalf led that “bunch of guys going for a long walk” also over the Misty Mountains through the Pass of Caradhras, which was also steep and stormy and treacherous to travelers. Frustrated in their attempts to go over it, the fellowship of the ring detours to go through the mountain delving into tunnels dug by dwarves.

This twofold path, first over and second through the mountain, will outline our own itinerary for this mile of our walk with Jesus. First we will attempt to ascend the Mt. Everest of marriage exteriorly by scaling its face over four different passes. And then secondly, we will go spelunking interiorly through three deep tunnels.

That is, besides being a defensor vinculi, a knight in shining armor, John Paul the Great will also serve as our Sherpa showing us the best routes over and then through the great Mt. Everest of marriage. I hope you like to go hiking.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

In a Class by Itself, Part 1

Studying Part Two of John Paul II's theology of the body

05/27/2025

I know some of you daily Mass people are wondering: when will Fr. John start another awesome series of homilies, especially on the theology of the body of Pope St. John Paul II? Well, you are in luck because today your long drought is over. We will now pick up where we left off last year. You will recall we have already covered the first half of John Paul's magnum opus called Man and Woman He Created Them.

That is, following the pope’s lead, we had studied Christ’s three Words about life in Eden, life on earth, and life in eternity. Now we turn to the second half of the pope’s book and take a deep dive into the sacrament of marriage, which John Paul simply calls “the sacrament,” meaning marriage is a sacrament in a class by itself.

I must admit I suffer from sacramental schizophrenia whenever I deal with the sacrament of marriage. As I made mention earlier, I celebrate more weddings than any other priest in Arkansas. So I help a lot of couples “get married”. Ironically, I also work on the marriage tribunal with annulments, and there I help couples “get unmarried”. Coming to me for your marital needs is like “one stop shopping.” I can get you in and I can get you out.

My role on the marriage tribunal is a very limited but important one called the Defender of the Bond, or in Latin, “Defensor vinculi.” That is, I defend the bond of marriage by making sure the other judges on tribunal “cross their t’s and dot their i’s” before someone obtains an annulment. The tribunal should not hand out annulments like a Las Vegas dealer hands out a deck of cards. In laymen’s terms, they call me the “devil’s advocate” who argues why someone should not get an annulment. People really love me.

As we turn from Part One to Part Two in Pope St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, we see that the Holy Father also styles himself a “defensor vinculi” – a defender of the bond. In case you have not been catching on, the pope-saint is unflinching in protecting and promoting the great sacrament of marriage, at times he does so subtly, at other times with a sledgehammer.

Indeed, the general title for Part Two is simply, “The Sacrament.” And it becomes blindingly clear the pope means precisely the sacrament of Holy Matrimony. In other words, for John Paul II, marriage is unquestionably “THE Sacrament”, like overzealous Ohio State football fans like to say “THE Ohio State University.” Or, as tradition refers to St. Paul as THE Apostle. Because the pope esteems marriage so highly, he defends marriage “tooth and nail.”

Like we saw previously in Part One, so too John Paul divides Part Two (the second half of his book) into three chapters. And I propose that we study them in the following homilies. Or, returning to our overarching image of a long walk with Jesus – like the Lord of the Rings was a long walk with Gandalf – so now begin the next four miles.

Let me quickly sketch for you a “mental map” of Part Two and its three chapters, so we can picture the terrain that lies ahead. Chapter One is titled “The Dimension of Covenant and Grace” and runs from pages 465-529 (64 pages), and explores in-depth marriage as a sacrament.

John Paul calls Chapter Two “The Dimension of Sign” covering pages 531-615 (84 pages), providing a rich spirituality of marriage. For those couples looking to enrich their marital spirituality, this chapter has been hand-crafted for you.

And lastly he gives Chapter Three a very nuanced title: “He Gave Them the Law of Life as Their Inheritance,” that is, pages 617-63 (46 pages). Here the Holy Father marshals the entire Theology of the Body as a defense of the Church’s teaching prohibiting contraception.

Let me take you on a two-minute tangent and answer a question that is no doubt burning in the back of your minds. If you’re paying attention to the page numbers I just noted, you might wonder: how does the pope’s book have 663 pages total, if I claimed that the text was in fact only 504 pages long? There are two reasons for this paginal anomaly.

First, Michael Waldstein (the translator) inserts a lengthy Introduction of 128 pages (practically a book itself), thereby ballooning the size of the book. The proper papal material by John Paul does not begin until page 131. Secondly, as we noted, the pope omitted portions of Chapter Two dealing with the Old Testament books of Song of Songs and Tobit in his public addresses.

Thus, in order to harmonize what the pope said with what the pope wrote, Waldstein included several additional shaded pages which again artificially enlarged the original book. Therefore, due to these two additions – the Introduction and the extra shaded pages – the last page in the pope’s tome is now 663, not 504.

Now that we have dealt with these details and disclaimers, we are ready to explore why Pope St. John Paul II considers marriage THE sacrament, standing in a class by itself, and why it deserves that we all should defend it.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

The Last Full Measure

Remembering the sacrifices of our military

05/26/2025

John 15:26—16:4a Jesus said to his disciples: "When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning. "I have told you this so that you may not fall away. They will expel you from the synagogues; in fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God. They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me. I have told you this so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you."

The greatest movie of all time is undoubtedly “Star Trek II: the Wrath of Khan.” That is my totally unbiased opinion. There is a brief, apparently inconsequential, scene where Spock does a quick mild-meld with Bones (the doctor). But later we learn that scene serves as the basis of the sequel, “Star Trek III: the Search for Spock.” During that crucial encounter, Spock touches the doctor’s face with three fingers and whispers the word, “Remember.”

And in a matter of second, all Spock’s past life – his joys and sorrows, his hopes and aspiration, his friends and failures, in a word his entire personality – passes into Bones’ own mind, as if he had lived Spock’s life. And after Spock sacrifices his life to save the starship, Bones becomes the reservoir of remembering everything Spock was.

Today is Memorial day here in the United States, and we are also to remember the ultimate sacrifices the men and women in the military made for us. They died fearlessly so we could live freely and fully. In a sense, today represents what Spock’s mind-meld was with Bones. That is, we should remember – Memorial Day, Memory Day – all the hopes and dreams, fears and friendships, etc. – of those brave servicemen and women.

Like Bones we become the reservoirs and receptacles of their personalities, and why they gave “the last full measure of devotion,” to borrow Lincoln’s hallowed phrase. You may know I have a nephew named Isaac John Antony – yes, he carries my name – who is currently a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He graduated from West Point in 2022, was stationed in Poland for 9 months, and is presently quartered at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas.

Incidentally, Fort Bliss is named for Brevetted Lt. Col. William Wallace Smith Bliss, who was President Zachary Taylor’s son-in-law. Bliss married Taylor’s youngest daughter, Mary Elizabeth. As you all know there is a monument to Zachary Taylor here at I.C. in front of the chimney of Zachary Taylor’s home.

While Taylor was Major General, Bliss was his chief of staff. So, it is entirely possible both Taylor and Bliss worked together here in Fort Smith. And that is a cool connection for 1st Lieutenant Isaac John Antony currently stationed at Fort Bliss, and Fr. John Antony, currently stationed in Fort Smith.

But getting back to my homily – which we have not really left – these are the sorts of life details we are charged to remember about our men and women in uniform. What kind of people were they? Where did they come from, whom did they marry, and how did their lives end? What were their exploits on and off the battlefield? At least today – on Memory Day – we should fulfill our role as reservoirs and remember their willingness to make “the last full measure of devotion.”

Naturally, for us Catholic Christians there is a profound parallel with Memorial Day too, namely, every Eucharist is a memorial. Indeed, it is far more: not just a mental remembering but a miraculous representation of Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary for the sake of our salvation. In other words, because Jesus gave "the last full measure of devotion" on the cross, you and I can enjoy the full “freedom of the children of God” (Rm 8:21).

My friends, can you hear the F35 jets flying overhead here in Fort Smith? Some people find them annoying and perhaps even petitioned not to have that training happen here because it disrupts our peaceful lives. But the U.S. Air Force is training pilots from around the world, especially from Poland.

One of those Polish pilots even comes to daily Mass here at I.C. and you may have seen his slender figure in military uniform as he comes up for Holy Communion. Last week he asked me how he could get in touch with Fr. Henry, a Polish priest here in Fort Smith, and I directed him to Mercy Crest, where Fr. Henry lives.

I am sure that Polish aviator has an amazing history. He is clearly a devout Roman Catholic, makes a point to come to daily Mass, and wanted to meet a Polish priest of our diocese. And somehow God’s providence brought him for a time to Fort Smith, Arkansas. I hope I will have a chance to know him better before the day he has to give “the last full measure of devotion” for his country. So that I may remember him on Memorial Day.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Easiest Eulogy Ever

Appreciating the pastoral ministry of Fr. Samy at I.C.

05/24/2025

You have heard by now how our beloved Fr. Samy will be leaving us to be made pastor of Our Lady of Fatima in Benton on June 18. Our new associate will be Fr. Savio Arokia, who also hails from the same Diocese of Nellore in India. Since this will be the last weekend for Fr. Samy here at Immaculate Conception, I want to deliver a eulogy for him, not because he’s dying, but just because he’s departing. And by the way, this will be easiest eulogy ever.

Have you ever heard of the popular book The Five Love Languages by Dr. Gary Chapman? I read it many years ago and it provides 5 languages to express love and to feel loved by others. Dr. Chapman explains that people have one, and sometimes two love languages, that is, a primary and secondary language, like I speak English primarily and Spanish secondarily, and also less fluently.

Well, I would suggest to you that Fr. Samy is one of those rare individuals who has mastered speaking all five love languages. Even though Fr. Samy’s English is not perfect and heavily-accented, he speaks at least 5 other languages fluently, and everyone who meets him hears and understands him beautifully. And speaking the language of love is what matters.

As St. Paul said to the Corinthians: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clashing symbol” (1 Co 13:1). See if you can recall occasions when you heard Fr. Samy speaking the following five love languages. And I will give you examples from my own interaction with Fr. Samy in the past 10 months.

The first language: words of affirmation. Fr. Samy never misses a chance to say thank you, and often ends his texts to me with: “I appreciate you, Fr. John.” Once when I asked how a Monday morning Mass went, he answered: “Well, there were so many people because they expected to see Fr. John, but only got me.” Those are humble words of affirmation that Fr. Samy speaks fluently.

The second language is gift-giving. Do you know that Fr. Samy loves to cook Indian food? He would often apologize for the strong aromas wafting from the kitchen while he was cooking, but I felt like I was a teenager back home. Spontaneously, he would prepare some food, or bring food back from a house blessing, take a picture of it, and text it to me saying: “Fr. John, there’s a little snack in the kitchen for you after Mass.”

Fr. Samy traveled to India while he was here back in October, and he never returns from a trip empty handed. He was like the three Magi from the east bringing back dromedaries and camels loaded with precious gifts for the church staff. Fr. Samy speaks the language of gift-giving flawlessly.

The third language is acts of service. One of the most impressive things about Fr. Samy is that he is not allergic to work. And therefore, performing acts of service never feel like a burden to him but only a blessing. He frequently hears confessions even when he’s not scheduled, and takes my Monday Mass on his day off because he sees my schedule is full. Acts of service is yet another language Fr. Samy has mastered.

And fifth is the love language of physical touch. As you know the sacraments involve physical touch – anointings, laying on of hands, tasting bread and wine, marital intimacy, etc. The body is so essential to who we are as human beings that Jesus became a body to save us and to be able to touch us.

I believe everyone who has shaken Fr. Samy’s hand or gotten a warm hug has felt the love of Jesus, the Word made Flesh, through him. Isn’t that the ultimate purpose of priestly ministry: to feel Jesus’ love incarnated in a human instrument, an “alter Christus” (another Christ)?

Fr. Samy is celebrating all the English Masses this weekend and I hope you will take a moment to say thank you to him. He is a remarkable, holy, humble, and joyful priest. And if you count correctly, he can speak 8 languages: English, Spanish, Indian, plus five love languages. And only the love languages will finally matter.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Unarmed and Disarming

Appreciating first and last words a person utters

05/20/2025

John 14:27-31a Jesus said to his disciples: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. You heard me tell you, 'I am going away and I will come back to you.' If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe. I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me, but the world must know that I love the Father and that I do just as the Father has commanded me."

The first words a baby says and the last words someone whispers on their deathbed are always highly significant. Parents take great pride in hearing their baby say as his or her first word, “Mama” or “Papa.” And before someone breathes their last breath, family and friends lean in close so they do not miss a person’s final thoughts.

This is especially true at the birth and death of a pope. The whole world waited almost holding our breath to see the newly born (elected) Pope Leo XIV to hear his first words on St. Peter’s balcony. And even though we didn’t know it at the time, when Pope Francis spoke on Easter Sunday, those would be his last words.

And how beautiful that both the new-born pope and the dying pope both uttered the same words, namely, “Peace be with you.” Those words of peace were almost like a baton that one relay runner passes on to the next in the race. And there have now been 267 papal runners carrying the baton of peace.

Of course, we know Jesus carried this baton of peace in the first leg of the race and he will carry it across the finish line as the last leg. Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He alone initiates true peace and he alone will one day definitively accomplish it.

In case you missed it, here are a few of Pope Leo XIV’s first words as he recalled Pope Francis’ last words. He said: “Peace be with you all!...It is the peace of the risen Christ. A peace that is unarmed and disarming, humble and persevering. A peace that comes from God, the God who loves us all, unconditionally.”

With his inaugural words, Pope Leo provided a brief study of the baton of peace that he inherited and will one day pass on as an inheritance. The baton of peace depends entirely on the power of the risen Christ, not on nuclear power, or technological power, or economic power. Thus, Christ’s peace is simultaneously “unarmed and disarming”. That is, it does not depend on a show of force, but on a show of faith in Jesus.

And I must say that Pope Leo’s presence on St. Peter’s balcony was both “unarmed and disarming.” Did you catch that? That is, he did not appear intimidating or domineering, but humble yet unwavering in his confidence in Christ. His smile, his mannerisms, his pauses, and inflections perfectly embodied that peace of which he spoke: both “unarmed and disarming.” He is not merely carrying the baton of peace, he is himself the baton of peace.

In the gospel today, we hear Jesus also explicating the baton of peace that he passes on to us. He says: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you.” Then he adds importantly: “Not as the world gives do I give it to you.” And finally he states: “Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”

In other words, Jesus offers us – which is to say, to the Church – the baton of peace to carry for this world to see. This baton of peace will be a beacon of an utterly unique kind of peace, that is not won by wars, is not made possible by money, nor is it produced by politics. Indeed, Jesus’ perfect peace is both “unarmed and disarming”, based on faith not on force (of whatever kind).

By the way, do you know what is another towering symbol of peace here locally? It is our magnificent Gothic church. Last night Apollo and I (like most of you) were worriedly watching the news, and listening to the reports of tornadoes, and hearing the sirens blaring warnings. This morning, however, as Apollo and I went for our morning walk, I gazed up at the towers of our church pointing to the sky, unshaken in its peaceful purpose.

For 125 years our church towers have carried the torch, the baton, of peace, in the face of storms, hail, and tornadoes. And sometimes those storms are inside the church caused by us crazy pastors. Nonetheless, she stands unwavering at the head of Garrison Avenue like Pope Leo XIV stood solidly on the balcony of St. Peter’s, embodying Jesus’ message of peace and confidence: unarmed and disarming.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Hermeneutics, Anyone?

Understanding how to practice the art of interpretation

05/19/2025

John 14:21-26 Jesus said to his disciples: "Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him." Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him, "Master, then what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me. "I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name-- he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.”

I love visiting families for supper, because that is a great way to get to know my parishioners and for them to know me. But sometimes I need help translating a foreign language they speak, and I don’t mean Spanish or Vietnamese. A small child will speak to me in their own made-up language and I cannot understand them. They sound like Charlie Brown’s teacher: “Wa-wa, wa-wa, wa-wa.”

But amazingly, an older sibling knows this arcane language and translates for me what their little brother is saying. Have you ever had this experience? The older sibling is practicing the art of hermeneutics, or interpretation and translation. They take an incomprehensible message and make the meaning plain. And I am convinced this is one of the greatest skills a person can possess.

In the first reading today we get a clue where the word hermeneutic originated, namely, with the Greek god Hermes. Paul and Barnabas are on their first missionary journey in Lystra and Paul speaks to a cripple and heals him. And St. Luke notes: “They called Barnabas ‘Zeus’ and Paul ‘Hermes’ because he was the chief speaker.”

You see, the god Hermes was a messenger from the gods on Mt. Olympus to mortals on earth. He was not merely a mailman, though, he was really an ambassador, who made sure the message was not only delivered but also understood, and indeed, received with joy or sorrow as the contents warranted. The people of Lystra thought Paul was “Hermes” because he did the hermeneutics of explaining their apostolic mission, like an older brother interprets his little brother’s baby talk.

If you give it a little thought, you will quickly see how we find ourselves in the role of Hermes quite frequently, that is, practicing the art of hermeneutics. For instance, anxious and worried parents call me and beg me to talk to their teenage son who is into gangs or drugs.

The parents want me to be their ambassador, their Hermes, and deliver their message of love, concern, and succor. Why? Well, because when the parents talk to their teen, they sound like Charlie Brown’s teacher, “Wa-wa, wa-wa, wa-wa.” There is no communication bridge between parents and teenagers.

Often couples come to me for marriage counseling because their communication has broken down. They both speak English but they cannot hear or comprehend what the other party is saying. Like Hermes carried messages from Mt. Olympus to earth, so I feel I carry the feelings, hurts, and hopes of struggling spouses to each other. Good hermeneutics requires careful attention to what someone does not say as well as what they do say.

And if we read the gospel in this light we see the Holy Trinity itself need two effective Hermes to serve as Ambassadors from heaven to earth. How so? First, Jesus says: “Yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me.” And later he adds: “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name – he will tech you everything and remind you of all that I told you.”

In other words, the eternal source of wisdom, love, and grace is God the Father. And he wants desperately to communicate his infinite glory with us mere mortals. But when he speaks, he often sounds like Charlie Brown’s teacher, or that toddler in the family I visit. God's naked words are incomprehensible to mortals.

Therefore we need two Hermes – the Son and the Spirit – to interpret, translate, deliver, and even embody the Father’s good news. This is the indispensable task of hermeneutics, and you and I are inevitably engaged in it. And if I may say so with due reverence, not even God can avoid it. A little hermeneutics, anyone?

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Bible on Four Walls

Understanding the design and beauty of the new altar

05/17/2025

In 2000, Bishop Robert Barron wrote an obscure little book called, Heaven in Stone and Glass. He lamented that we live in “iconoclastic times” explaining that “our church buildings have become largely empty spaces void of imagery and color, places where people gather but not places that, themselves, tell a story.” In semianry we called them “Pizza Hut churches.”

Instead, Barron insisted, a church building should basically be like a book, indeed, a catechism. He went on: “In their windows and towers, vaults, naves, roses, labyrinths, altars, and façades, these Gothic churches…teach the faith and focus the journey of the spirit.” In other words, every time we walk into church it should feel like we entered the Bible on four walls.

And I would like to share with you how our new back altar and new statues also “teach the faith and focus the journey of the spirit.” I will structure this homily in the form of FAQ’s, that is, frequently asked questions that people have posed lately about our recent renovations.

First, how long did it take to develop the design and construct the back altar? We worked with a company called King Richards for the past 16 months to design, build, ship, and install the new altar. As you know, the arrival was delayed due to shipping, so it took 4 months longer than we planned.

Second, what material is the altar made from? A company in Carrara, Italy built the altar out of two colors: pink and white, to match the pink and white in the current altar, and communion rail. You will notice we reversed the color scheme: instead of a pink frame with white panels, the new altar is white frame with pink panels. Mark Twain once observed: “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” So, the two colors of our altars don't repeat, but they do rhyme.

Third, what do the symbols in the new altar mean? Like Bishop Barron said, the altar tells a story, and these symbols play a prominent role in the book of Revelation. The alpha and the omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, and Jesus declared himself the Alpha and the Omega in Rv 22:13.

Incidentally, the Italian company sent us an extra marble Alpha and Omega. So I am going to put the Alpha on my office door and rhe Omega on the associate priest’s office door. So everyone knows who the Alpha priest is in this parish.

And in the middle panel is a Lamb sitting on a book with seven seals. Rv 5 speaks of Jesus as the Lamb who alone is worthy to open the seven-sealed book. And by the way, the seven seals signify the seven sacraments, which open up God’s graces to us, and Jesus alone unlocks.

Fourth, how did we decide on the other design features for the reredos? The central cupola directly above the tabernacle mimics the exterior of our church roof directly above the central transept. You have to step outside to see that.

The six niches with pointed arches framing the candles connect the altar with the pointed arches atop the stained-glass windows. The arches are not arbitrary but intended to make the altar harmonious with the original design of our Gothic church. The new altar should feel like it could have been the old altar.

Fifth, where did we get the statue of St. Patrick? King Richards designed it in their studio – with our input – carved out of wood. Then they painted it to match the statues of Mary and Joseph on rhe other end of the sanctuary. Why St. Patrick?

Well, I want to pay a debt we owe to our Irish forebearers who built this church. Sunday after Sunday we walk into this magnificent Gothic church, and we can easily take it all for granted. But the sacrifices they made yesterday made possible this Bible on four walls we enjoy today.

Sixth, why did we move the Sacred Heart statue to where the tabernacle was? That altar to stage-right (your left) was designed deliberately for the Blessed Sacrament because of the gold in-laid stone background. In art, gold always signifies divinity, like a golden halo symbolizes divine grace that makes a saint holy.

So, the only statue that could legitimately stand before the sign of divinity was the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and not a saint, not even the Blessed Virgin Mary. And honestly, I think the Sacred Heart looks stunning there and now four statues artfully balance the entire sanctuary.

Seventh is the million-dollar question on everyone’s mind: when are we going to raise the crucifix on the back wall? We originally designed the new altar to reach 3 inches below the feet of Jesus on the crucifix. But it ended up taller than we expected. But I am not entirely disappointment. Why not?

The new altar should dominate the sanctuary because it is the focal point of the architecture of the whole church. As Bishop Barron remarked: “It focusses the journey of the spirit.” We will raise the crucifix by 18 inches, so Jesus’ Body will be clearly visible from everywhere in the church. So, stay tuned, our sanctuary will soon be even more glorious.

In the gospel today, Jesus exclaims at the Last Supper, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.” Jesus was speaking, of course, of the glory of his impending death on the cross, by which he fulfilled God’s will and demonstrated the infinite depth of his love for us.

But on a much smaller scale, Jesus is also glorified in this new back altar, and his Sacred Heart beams enthroned and surrounded by gold. May all who enter this church feel inspired to glorify our Lord and Savior in the Blessed Sacrament and love our neighbor as he loves us. Welcome to our Bible on four walls!

Praised be Jesus Christ!