Dereliction of Duty

Fulfilling our Christian duty found in each sacrament

06/04/2018

Mark 12:1-12 Jesus began to speak to the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders in parables. "A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and left on a journey. At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants to obtain from them some of the produce of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent them another servant. And that one they beat over the head and treated shamefully. He sent yet another whom they killed. So, too, many others; some they beat, others they killed. He had one other to send, a beloved son. He sent him to them last of all, thinking, 'They will respect my son.' But those tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' So they seized him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come, put the tenants to death, and give the vineyard to others.

Perhaps you have heard of the term “dereliction of duty.” It is found in the U.S. Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and binds all military personnel to do their job. If they fail to fulfill their function, either willfully or negligently, they are liable to punishment. That punishment can range all the way from the death penalty (during war time) to dishonorable discharge. Specifically, Article 92 reads: “Failure to obey an order or a regulation…Any person subject to this chapter who…is derelict in the performance of his duties; shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.”

But dereliction of duty can be found outside the U.S. military, even in the Church. The most dramatic instance recently was the resignation of all 34 bishops in the whole country of Chile on May 18. That would be like all the highest ranking U.S. officers in Afghanistan resigning simultaneously. As far as the Catholic Church in Chile is concerned, that church is leaderless and rudderless today. But why did they resign? You may have been following the news of sexual abuse that has thrown a papal spotlight on Chile. It seems there has been rampant sexual abuse and cover up, or at least willful turning of a blind eye. Whatever the particulars of the case, everyone, including the 34 bishops, acknowledges they were guilty of dereliction of duty, and tendering their resignation is tantamount to asking for a “dishonorable discharge” from service in the Lord’s army. Dereliction of duty is a serious failure, whether you serve a country or a church.

Mark 12 shows that Jesus was not so lenient as Pope Francis might be in dealing with dereliction of duty. He tells a parable directed clearly to the “officers” of the Jewish people, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. The parable is about the woeful failure of tenants given charge of a vineyard to cultivate and care for. But they are severely derelict in their duty because they abuse and kill the owner’s emissaries, and ultimately kill his son. What punishment will the court-martial mete out to them? Jesus continues: “He will come, put those tenants to death, and give the vineyard to others.” Jesus does not tolerate dereliction of duty to any degree and punishes it accordingly.

My friends, it can be convenient to cast blame on the leaders of the military and in the church regarding dereliction of duty, and easily turn a blind eye to our own responsibilities. You and I may not be in the U.S. military or a bishop in the Catholic hierarchy, but that doesn’t absolve us from possible dereliction of duty. Where does our duty to the Christian community originate? It can be found in every sacrament. Each sacrament – baptism, confirmation, Communion, confession, marriage, holy orders and anointing of the sick – is not only what God promises to do for us – his duty – but also an obligation placed on us to respond to his love – our duty. Every sacrament, especially baptism, is a renewal of our covenant with Christ in which we exchange mutual rights and responsibilities: he promises to love us and give us his grace and mercy, and we promise to love him by lives of holiness, humility and honor. When we fail to do that, we are also derelict in our Christian duty. And we face our own personal court-martial every time we go to confession. That’s why everyone looks forward to confession.

This week all the priests of our diocese will be on retreat. We don’t just go to Subiaco to rest and relax – don’t worry, we’ll do plenty of that – but also to examine our priestly commitment we made at ordination. Have we been derelict in our duty as shepherds of souls? Knowing that Jesus is not very lenient in this regard with the leaders of his church, I think I’ll need your prayers this coming week.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Wise Blood

Seeking wise blood in believers and in the Eucharist

06/03/2018

Mark 14:12-16, 22-26 On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples said to him, "Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?" While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, gave it to them, and said, "Take it; this is my body." Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many. Amen, I say to you, I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God." Then, after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Many years ago I read one of the most bizarre novels written by one of the most brilliant Catholic authors of the last century, Flannery O’Connor. The name of the novel was Wise Blood. The real meaning of the story, however, lies hidden, buried beneath layers and layers of symbolism, and I still don’t understand most of it. The basic plot revolves around a World War II veteran named Hazel Motes, who returns to his hometown in Tennessee to find his family homestead abandoned. His war experiences have embittered him to life and now he’s an avowed atheist. So much for the theory that “there are no atheists in foxholes”! As a matter of fact, Hazel begins a street ministry preaching anti-religion, trying to convince people religion is a sham and there is no God.

Hazel’s path, however, is continually crisscrossed by people with highly symbolic names that slowly help him to a spiritual awakening. The first character he meets is Enoch Emory, who teaches him about the notion of “wise blood,” meaning that Hazel’s own heart, which pumps his life blood, has a wisdom that doesn’t require religion or God (he’s talking about his conscience). You might remember Enoch was a patriarch mentioned in Genesis 5:24 who was taken to heaven before he died. Next a young fifteen year told girl comes into Hazel’s life named Sabbath Lily, whose name obviously evokes Sunday (Sabbath) and purity (Lily), and Hazel is irresistibly drawn to her like to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In a fit of rage, however, Hazel kills a competing street preacher, and feeling deep remorse and guilt, does penance by wrapping barbed wire around his body and blinding himself with quicklime. Finally, Hazel is saved from his anti-religion by a lady named Mrs. Flood, and dies in her arms, and her name is reminiscent of the ancient flood recorded in Genesis 9 that washed away sin and disbelief.

What does all this have to do with the title of the book Wise Blood? I have no idea! But here’s my best guess. Somehow, blood carries a certain wisdom, which is the knowledge and awareness of sin and the subsequent need for salvation. Maybe that’s why so many sins we commit infect the blood. Pope Benedict XVI insisted, “The organ for knowing God is the heart.”  Notice he didn’t say the organ for knowing God is the mind. The heart, in other words, is the throne of faith and a Christian heart is pumping the blood of a believer, the wisest of all blood.

I believe there is a kind of crimson cord that stretches from the beginning to the end of the Bible and that is blood. Blood builds a kind of bridge between sin and salvation: blood is shed in sin but blood is also shed when we are saved, as our three scripture readings attest. In Exodus 24 Moses sprinkles the people with the blood of sacrificed bulls, because they had worshipped bulls in Egypt. The bull’s blood was “wise blood” because it reminded them of their sin. The Letter to the Hebrews 9 says Jesus entered heaven “not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood.” The “wise blood” of Jesus gives us knowledge of eternal mysteries hidden in heaven. And at the Last Supper in the gospel of Mark, Jesus takes a cup of wine and pronounces “This is my Blood of the covenant” and commanded his apostles to partake of it. Why? So that they would have Jesus’ own “wise blood” so that they, too, would live by faith, true wisdom.

On this Feast of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Christ, let me suggest how you, too, can have a little more wise blood in your veins. First of all, try to seek the wisdom of your parents. After all, their blood flows through your whole body. Learn from them, listen to them, and laugh with them (don’t laugh at them). Someone sent me this little joke about not laughing at parents. A man recalled sadly, “My dad died last year when my family couldn’t remember his blood type in time for paramedics to save him. As he died, he kept insisting for us to ‘be positive, be positive,’ but it’s so hard without him.” Parents are not perfect, but they have the wisdom of hindsight, so try to get an infusion of their wise blood.

Second, seek “wise blood” in the Scriptures and in the saints. Pay close attention to that crimson cord running through the Bible, the intimate connection between sin and salvation in the blood, and realize that someone we, too, must make sacrifices to expiate sin and receive salvation. The saints, too, especially the martyrs who shed their blood bear powerful witness to Jesus. They believed that faith was worth any price, even the price of their own life. That is wise blood.

Thirdly, never miss Sunday Mass, and the opportunity to receive the Body and Blood of Jesus in Holy Communion. I know it’s summertime and we want a break from the routine of school and work. And that is both good and healthy. But don’t take a vacation from your vocation by skipping Mass. Your heart is the one muscle that never gets to relax, because if it ever took a vacation – even for a few minutes – from pumping blood to your body, you’d die. So, pour “wise blood” into your heart by receiving Communion frequently. Keep your hearts muscle strong because it is the organ for knowing God.

My friends, do you have any wise blood? Here’s how you can tell if you do. First, wise blood makes you aware of how sin and salvation are found in the blood, like Hazel Motes learned. Second, you’ll frequently seek the wise Blood of Jesus in Holy Communion every Sunday, or more often. Wise blood is the best blood type that you can possibly have, even better than “be positive.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!

The Fault in our Figs

Seeing Jesus’ judgment as directed to our lack of holiness

06/01/2018

Mark 11:11-26 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple area. He looked around at everything and, since it was already late, went out to Bethany with the Twelve. The next day as they were leaving Bethany he was hungry. Seeing from a distance a fig tree in leaf, he went over to see if he could find anything on it. When he reached it he found nothing but leaves; it was not the time for figs. And he said to it in reply, "May no one ever eat of your fruit again!" And his disciples heard it. They came to Jerusalem, and on entering the temple area he began to drive out those selling and buying there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. He did not permit anyone to carry anything through the temple area. Then he taught them saying, "Is it not written: My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples? But you have made it a den of thieves." Early in the morning, as they were walking along, they saw the fig tree withered to its roots. Peter remembered and said to him, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered."

It’s amazing how easily hunger can turn into anger, or as some people say these days “hanger” (a conflation of hunger and anger). The funniest commercial depicting the debilitating effect of hunger was for a candy bar. In one commercial, two men are at a party talking to two pretty girls (trying to pick them up). One of the two men looks like Joe Pesci, the sarcastic comedian, prone to violent outbursts. After introducing themselves, Joe Pesci loses his composure and start interrogating the two girls for no apparent reason. Pesci suddenly asks, “What are you looking at?” And not pausing for an answer asks, “What, we’re not good enough for you? What, are you some big supermodels or something? What do you model, gloves?” Then after his friend takes him aside and gives him a candy bar, the man becomes his usual charming self, no longer Joe Pesci. It was a memorable ad about how hunger makes us lose our cool and control to the extent that we’re almost another person.

In Mark 10 it looks like Jesus loses his composure because of hunger and he could use a candy bar to calm down. St. Mark writes: “As they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing from a distance a fig tree in leaf, he went over to see if he could find anything on it. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves; it was not the time for figs. And he said in reply, “May no one ever eat of your fruit again!” Jesus suddenly sounded like Joe Pesci because his hunger got the better of him. But is that what’s really going on? Not at all.

First of all, Jesus is not a slave to his passions and bodily appetites, but rather he possesses absolute self-mastery. Remember how he rebuffed the devil’s temptation in the desert not eating for forty days? Jesus can easily fast from figs for one day. Secondly, the fig tree was an ancient symbol for the Chosen People, Israel. Hosea 9:10 prophesied: “Like grapes in the desert, I found Israel; Like the first fruits of the fig tree, its first to ripen, I looked on your ancestors.” But the Jews fell from grace and away from God and the subsequent time for judgment had arrived. Jesus’ judgment on the fig tree was symbolic of God’s greater judgment on Israel. Indeed, that’s why Jesus’ next step is to enter the Temple and drive our the money-changers. The faulty figs represented the faults of the people, hence Jesus’ judgment, not because he was “hangry.”

I think one lesson we can draw out from this scripture is to ask ourselves: are we slaves to our passions, or have we learned some self-mastery? The rich spiritual tradition of the Church offers seven capital sins or vices that perennially plague all people, including me and you: envy, gluttony, greedy, sloth, lust, anger and pride. As a convenient way to remember them, I use the mnemonic device, the acronym that spells “EGG SLAP.” For instance, does greed – a lack of money or financial stability – make you turn into Joe Pesci and behave badly, blaming others? Perhaps gluttony – not satisfying your desire for food – causes you to lash out at people. What about satisfying your sexual appetite, lust? Do you seek solace in illicit sexual activity? Sometimes our bruised ego or our prickly pride prompts us to resort to resentment or revenge. All these indicate a lack of self-mastery and that we are governed by our passions, not like Jesus.

Jesus did not take out his hunger pains on a faulty fig tree. He only condemned the faulty faith of his people. Jesus is also looking for the figs of faithfulness from us, which is evidenced in lives of holiness and humility. We don’t want Jesus to turn into Joe Pesci when he deals with us.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

First Impressions

Allowing others to make a good first impression first

05/31/2018

Luke 1:39-56 Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled."

How do you behave when you meet someone important for the first time? Most of us try to make a good first impression and so we feel understandably nervous. Try to recall your first job interview. Di you fret over the kind of tie you would wear, or the dress you decided to don? Did the palms of your hands sweat or beads of sweat break out on your forehead? Did you stutter when you tried to speak? I remember when I personally met Pope John Paul II for the first time in 2002. I had the chance to exchange a few words one-on-one and I was so nervous I sounded like Charlie Brown’s teacher on Peanuts, “Wah, wah, wah, wah.” I was hoping the pope thought I was speaking some obscure Indian dialect he’d never heard before. So much for first impressions.

In India whenever two people meet for the first time, they fold their hands in the prayer position and bow toward one another. They utter the word, “Namaste” almost like a prayer. The word and the bow mean that I acknowledge the divine presence in you. That’s what I should have done when I met the pope, surely I could remember one word “Namaste”! But notice the shift in emphasis of the good impression: instead of focusing on me, I turn the attention to the other person. Rather than trying to make myself look divine, I acknowledge that the other person carries a spark of God. The best first impression we can make is to let the other person make a good first impression.

The feast of the Visitation, the second Joyful Mystery of the Holy Rosary, is the meeting of two wonderful women and their two extraordinary unborn children. Mary goes to the hill country to care for her cousin Elizabeth, who’s older and pregnant, so it wasn’t easy. And how does Elizabeth greet Mary? She was more poised than I was with the pope. She exclaims: “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Elizabeth didn’t literally say “Namaste” or perhaps even fold her hands and bow, but she said essentially the same thing. Of course, Elizabeth’s greeting was the one occasion in human history when saying “Namaste” was unconditionally and absolutely true: Mary carried not a spark of God, but the veritable Son of God, the eternal Logos. Elizabeth made a great first impression – as well as John the Baptist in her womb – by allowing the focus to be on Mary and Jesus, so they made a good first impression. The best first impression is always letting the other person make a good first impression.

Let me suggest a simple way you, too, can change your attitude about making a first impression, whether it’s for a job interview or if you’re about to meet the pope. Instead of focusing overmuch on yourself, acknowledge the importance and value of the other person. Specifically, try to discover their talents, or accomplishments or gifts and compliment them on it. This is very easy to do, if we but take a moment to look around and pay attention. For instance, I visited a family for supper last night and complimented them on their landscaping when I walked in, they obviously worked hard on it. I’ll send them a little thank you note mentioning how well their children shared in the dinner conversation and how delicious the supper was. We sat and talked for almost three hours! Every time you compliment someone you are silently saying “Namaste,” I see the divine spark in you.

That’s the paradoxical things about first impressions. When you allow someone else to make a good first impression, that’s when you make the best first impression, too. And in a way, you’ll be speaking an obscure Indian dialect, too.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Patriotism over Pacifism

Embracing courage to follow the Lord

05/28/2018

Mark 10:17-27 As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus answered him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother." He replied and said to him, "Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth." Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, "You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." At that statement, his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

Some time between the two great World Wars, C. S. Lewis delivered a controversial talk to a pacifist organization in England called, “Why I am not a Pacifist.” That would be like coming the I.C. Ladies Auxiliary and giving a talk called, “Why I am not a Catholic.” It was either very brave or very foolhardy. But I’d like to share a small section of it with you because today is Memorial Day, and we might well give some thought to war and peace, and why men and women would die for their country.

Of all Lewis’ preponderance of points against pacifism the one that touched me deepest was the argument of courage versus cowardice. Lewis contends soldiers face the worst evils (in fact they face all evils simultaneously), saying: “All that we fear from all kinds of adversity, severally, is collected together in the life of a solider on active service. Like sickness, it threatens pain and death. Like poverty, it threatens ill lodging, cold, heat, thirst and hunger. Like slavery, it threatens toil, humiliation, injustice, and arbitrary rule. Like exile, it separates you from all you love. Like the gallies, it imprisons you at close quarters with uncongenial companions. It threatens every temporal evil – every evil except dishonor and final perdition.”

That’s the courageous side that soldiers stand on, but pacifists have a much easier route to take. Lewis continues: “On the other hand, though it may not be your fault, it is certainly a fact that Pacifism threatens you with almost nothing. Some public opprobrium, yes, from people whose opinion you discount and whose society you do not frequent, soon recompensed by the warm mutual approval which exists, inevitably, in any minority group” (like the Ladies Auxiliary). The reason I mention Lewis’ essay today is to remind us why we celebrate Memorial Day: we honor those men and women who chose courage over cowardice. They did not choose war over peace; they chose patriotism rather than pacifism.

If we study the scriptures carefully we discover that courage is an indispensable virtue for every Christian. A rich young man approaches Jesus and declares his desire to follow Our Lord. Jesus answers: “Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come follow me.” We all know how the man reacted because that’s how most of us would have responded as well. “At that statement, his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.” It would take the courage of a soldier, who’s willing to part with all possessions, even the precious possession of life itself, to serve others, and to follow Jesus. Sooner or later our decision for or against discipleship will involve choosing between courage or cowardice, like a soldier chooses between patriotism and pacifism.

On this Memorial Day, therefore, I think we should do two things. First, take time to honor the women and men who have made the supreme sacrifice for patriotism, and let us pray for those who still are ready to make that sacrifice day after day, the “soldiers on active service.” Like Lewis said, they face “all adversities” combined at once. That takes profound courage. Second, let us muster up that same virtue in the face of the hurdles and harassments that keep us from following Jesus more closely. Maybe we will have to give up possessions, or perhaps lose our reputation, or maybe we’ll be corrected by others, or have to persevere in a vocation that feels fruitless and futile. Ruydard Kipling eloquently explained the value of courage in his poem “If” writing: “If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew / To serve your turn long after they are gone, / And so hold on when there is nothing in you / Except the Will which says to them ‘Hold on!’”

At the end of the day, Christianity belongs only to those who are courageous and not cowardly. That’s to whom the future of this country will belong to as well.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Meet the Family

Getting to know others by getting to know their family

05/27/2018

Romans 8:14-17 Brothers and sisters: For those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a Spirit of adoption, through whom we cry, "Abba, Father!" The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

Families are funny in many respects, but let me point out one special way today on the Feast of the Holy Trinity, the Family of God. I believe that you cannot really know any one person until you know the main members of their family. You cannot really know a husband until you know his wife (the better half!), or a wife until you meet the husband. You cannot really know parents until you know their kids nor the children until you meet the parents. Hence, the age-old adage, “the apple does not fall far from the tree.” The seeds of my identity are tucked away in the tree of my ancestors.

When a couple is dating and getting to know one another, what is the biggest step they take before the engagement? They bring their beloved home to meet the parents! Why is that so awkward (and terrifying) sometimes? It’s not only because we’re worried what our boyfriend or girlfriend will think of our parents, we’re also worried because our parents reveal something about us. In meeting my parents, you meet me! Isn’t this why older brothers are embarrassed by their younger brothers and why older sisters don’t want their little sisters tagging along? It’s not just that my little brother or little sister isn’t cool (like me and my friends are), but because in them there is something of me, they carry around something of the “uncoolness” I’m trying to hide from my friends. But that is the real me, and it’s hidden in my family. We feel the same discomfort when people see our aging parents, their struggles and silliness. We’re more worried what people will think of us than of our parents. When you meet my family, you’re really meeting the real me.

Today, on Holy Trinity Sunday we can finally say we know the Holy Trinity – the divine Family – because we’ve met all the members of that Family: the Father, the Son and the Spirit. Christians cannot really say they know God if they only know the Father, or if they only focus on Jesus, or if they’re only worried about the Holy Spirit. Each member of the divine Family holds the secret to the true identity of each other member. In the liturgical calendar, it is not by accident that the Feast of the Holy Trinity lands on the Sunday after the Feast of Pentecost. Why? Well, because at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit is revealed and we finally know who God is: Three Persons in one God. It’s only when we meet all the members of the divine Family that we can say we know each member better.

By the way, this is what makes Christianity so radically different from others major world religions. All other religions – Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, etc. – is man’s attempt to get to know God through our smarts and savvy; we try to lift ourselves up to heaven by pulling on our own religious bootstraps. But in Judeo-Christianity alone does God reveal himself to us. Did you ever read that classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee? The three children, Jem, Scout and Dill are fascinated and afraid of a neighbor named “Boo Radley.” They don’t really know him because he stays hidden in his creepy house, but he gives them small gifts of his affection. They make wild guesses about the kind of person Boo is and their guesses are pretty wide of the mark. It isn’t until the end of the book when Boo saves the children that he reveals himself fully. All major world religions are like those three children guessing at the gifts that God sends us and who God is. Sometimes they’re right, sometimes wrong. But Christianity is like Jesus coming out of his heavenly house and saving us. And Jesus tells us who he is and introduces us to his Family of the Father and Spirit.

But Jesus does more than reveal who God is by telling us about his Father and sending us his Holy Spirit. He even goes so far as to adopt us into his divine Family. Here’s the really radical thing we celebrate today on Trinity Sunday: not only has God revealed himself to us as a divine Family, but he has made us members of that Family. St. Paul tells the Romans, “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” And a verse later, he adds: “You received a Spirit of adoption through whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’” In other words, when see one another, we also get to know our divine Family because we are members of that family. In a sense, when I get to know you, I get to know the Holy Trinity better. And when I get to know the Holy Trinity better, I get to know you, just like when a couple madly in love meets their parents, they get to know each other better. In a true and terrifying sense, the seeds of God’s identity is hidden in me and you. Hopefully, God is not embarrassed by us as part of his Family, like we are sometimes embarrassed by our younger siblings.

Before Mass starts I gather the altar servers together to pray. Right before we walk out into the sanctuary, I remind them: “Your job is to make me look good, and my job is to make Jesus look good.” Obviously, the servers have a much harder job than I do. But that’s what we should do as siblings in the Family of God, the Holy Trinity. We should not be embarrassed by each other, but rather make each other look good, just like the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit always make each other look good. It’s only when you know the family someone belongs to that you finally know them.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

The Eye that Sees

Seeing how true faith avoids extremes of Manichees and magic

05/26/2018

Mark 10:13-16 People were bringing children to Jesus that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them, "Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it." Then he embraced the children and blessed them, placing his hands on them.

The fundamental function of faith is to help us see below the surface of things, to glimpse more than meets the eyes. The Bible itself attests to this truth in Hebrews 11:1, “Faith is confident assurance of things unseen.” Faith helps us see the invisible. But being people of faith also requires us to take great care of what we do see, the material world, that even though we look beyond it, we don’t forget it.

Basically, we have to strike a balance between two extremes, which are really rooted in two heresies. On the one hand stands the error of the Manichees, who held that material things (like the human body) was corrupt and we need to be freed from it; we need to “shuffle off this mortal coil.” On the other hand, we have magic, which believes that material things (like a rosary or a scapular) have spiritual power in themselves apart from God. This is superstition plain and simple, and exaggerates the claims of matter. Faith’s function, then, is to help us see more than meets the eye, but it does not forget what we do see, and it does not forget the eye that sees. True faith always avoids the twin errors of the extremes positions of the Manichees and magic.

I believe the Catholics who built our church of the Immaculate Conception in 1901 were people of towering and tremendous faith, precisely because they struck this balance between the visible and the invisible, between matter and spirit, between earth and heaven. Consider this striking example. The large stained glass window on the south side, along Rogers Ave., tells the story of today’s gospel from Mark 10. Jesus rebukes the apostles and takes the children into his arms to bless them. I always read Mark 10 when I celebrate baptisms. Just like Jesus blessed children, so Catholics bless children with the grace of baptism. It’s okay to baptize babies!

Then, if you look to the opposite wall (above the north entry), you find the magnificent window depicting Pentecost, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Can you guess which of the seven sacraments that window reminds us of? That’s right: the sacrament of confirmation. And nestled in between those two sacraments of initiation is the sanctuary, the altar, where we celebrate the third sacrament of initiation, the Holy Eucharist. Using their vision of faith, the forefathers and foremothers of Immaculate Conception built an edifice of faith as beautiful as it is balanced. They point us beyond what is see, but never forget that matter matters, too. They could care less about the Manichees or about magic.

As you make your way through your own journey of faith, try to peer deeply into things and see below the surface level of the world. Here are some examples. Your marriage to your spouse is a symbol of the love between Jesus and his church; that’s its deepest reality. Or, as C. S. Lewis playfully said, “Sex is more than four bare legs in a bed.” Or take human history, which is more than merely the clash of political powers, or the surging of the blind forces of economics, but rather it is the stage upon which God’s providence directs all human activity, all ups and downs, all triumphs and tragedies. As Shakespeare famously said in the play “As You Like It,” “All the world’s a stage, / And all the men and women merely players; / They have their exits and their entrances.” In the end, we all do God’s bidding. Even creation is more than simply birds and bees, mountains and trees. For St. Francis of Assisi creation was a chorus of song that accompanies the angels in praising the glory of God. That is, people of faith cannot look at water or oil or bread or wine or a man or a woman simply on the surface; much more is going on.

The eyes of faith always behold a mystery that rejects both the Manichees and magic. Faith sees more than meets the eye, but it does not forget the eye that sees.

Praised be Jesus Christ!