Kings and Queens

Connecting poverty of spirit and richness in grace

01/31/2023

Mt 5:1-12a When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven."

This past Friday Bishop Taylor assigned a new priest to I.C. and we warmly welcomed another Indian priest as our associate pastor. So, now there will be three Indian priests serving in Fort Smith. The Indians are taking over the Fort! The new priest’s name is Fr. Nalazala, and our current associate priest’s name is Fr. Bala.

So, I have decided to change my name to Fr. Jala, so our names can all rhyme like some parents do to torture their poor children by making their names rhyme. To be totally honest, though, you cannot really call me a true Indian priest because the only thing Indian left about me is this deep island tan. Otherwise, I’m just a Gringo, like all of ya’ll.

As Fr. Nalazala and I were talking Friday evening he told me something very surprising about his home diocese. He said that his home diocese of Nellore has so many young men who want to become priests that the bishop is limiting how many can enter the seminary. What a great problem to have! Why would he do such a thing? Well, because once they are ordained there are not enough parishes to assign them in the diocese. And that is why we now have two Indian priests in our parish. You see, Arkansas has the opposite problem: we have lots of parishes and not so many priests.

But I believe this seesaw scenario of priests and parishes also touches on the deeper truth that Jesus teaches in the gospel today. Our Lord’s very first beatitude to begin his magnificent Sermon on the Mount is: “Blessed are the poor in spirit for they will inherit the kingdom of heaven.” In other words, there is an intimate connection, a tight correlation, between poverty of spirit on the one hand, and richness in grace on the other hand, or as Jesus says, “an inheritance.”

I am convinced that when we are detached from earthly goods, we are freer to be attached to heavenly goods. We can more readily see the infinite value of God’s grace. That is at least one reason why there are so many priestly and religious vocations in India, where there is so much material poverty. Could that same dynamic also explain why here in a wealthy country like the United States we have fewer vocations? We sadly overvalue material things and sometimes undervalue spiritual things. Blessed are the poor in spirit for they shall inherit the kingdom of heaven. And they shall inherit the parish of Immaculate Conception, too!

Now, I want to clarify one point so we do not jump to conclusions or misunderstand what Jesus really means by the first beatitude. Notice our Lord says “Blessed are the poor in spirit” and the key word in that phrase is “spirit.” That is, it is the spirit, the soul, the human heart, the inner man, that should be poor. If you carefully study the long history of the Church, you will discover that we have had many kings and queens who were great saints and obviously they were very wealthy as well.

Consider St. Louis IX, the king of France, or St. Margaret, the queen of Scotland. They did not abdicate their thrones nor did they sell all their property to become great saints. Why not? Well, they knew that what Jesus meant by being “poor in spirit’ was to be detached from worldly wealthy, to keep things at arm’s length sort of say, and to be more attached to heavenly things.

How did they practice poverty of spirit? They used their royal influence and their material resources to help the Church. They built cathedrals, convents, hospitals, schools, orphanages, and seminaries. In other words, even kings and queens can be “poor in spirit" and still inherit the kingdom of heaven.

This Sunday we kick off Catholic Schools Week, and we give God thanks for our great Catholic schools. One of the reasons we have such a strong and vibrant Catholic school here at Immaculate Conception is because our parishioners live the first beatitude. We are not a church filled with kings and queens, but we do have a lot of people who are poor in spirit and give very generously to support the church and school.

And where did these parishioners learn to be poor in spirit? Many of them also attended a Catholic school themselves. In other words, the reason Catholic schools exist is to teach our students the true meaning of the first beatitude: blessed are the poor in spirit for they shall inherit the kingdom of heaven. You may have heard that our principal, Sharon Blentlinger, will be retiring at the end of the school year, on July 31. Sharon is a really talented leader for our school, and for 37 years as principal she embodied the first beatitude. We will miss you, Mrs. B! We will begin a search for a new principal immediately.

My friends, there is a crucial reason Jesus mentioned being poor in spirit as the first of his beatitudes. Why? It is the necessary condition, the sine que non, the key that unlocks the door, to the other seven beatitudes. Only those who are poor in spirit can truly mourn, and be meek, and merciful. Only the poor in spirit are pure in heart, and peacemakers, and endure persecutions. Only the poor in spirit, in other words, can be truly detached from earthly things so as to be fully attached to heavenly things. The first beatitude is the heartbeat of all the beatitudes. That’s what I learned talking to Fr. Nalazala.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

Learning Our Lines

Getting in the game not sitting on the sidelines

01/28/2023

Mk 4:26-34 Jesus said to the crowds: “This is how it is with the Kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come.” He said, “To what shall we compare the Kingdom of God, or what parable can we use for it? It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.” With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it. Without parables he did not speak to them, but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.

Few things in the world are as powerful as good story-telling. This is why I love to go to the movies. What really lies at the heart of a romance or comedy, an action-adventure or sci-fi movie but a really good story: compelling characters, a plot and drama. And the power a story exerts over us is it helps us remember certain lines and important lessons. In other words, the power of story-telling is to persuade us of the truth of things while it entertains us. We learn while we are laughing, and learning lines that slowly become our own.

Here are my top five movies and lines and lessons I have learned from them. I am going to give you a quiz by repeating the lines and seeing if you can guess which famous movie it comes from. In what movie does an angel named Clarence tell George Bailey, “No man is a failure who has friends”? That is from the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” In what other movie does Admiral Josh Painter tell the CIA analyst Jack Ryan, “Russians don’t take a dump, son, without a plan”? Although the war in Ukraine might be an exception to Russians always having a plan. That is from “Hunt from Red October.”

Another favorite line is when the innocent inmate, Andy Dufresne tells Red, “Get busy living or get busy dying.” That was from “Shawshank Redemption.” Here’s one that you have to knonw. Wesley and Princess Buttercup are about to run into the fire swamp, and Princess Buttercup said fearfully, “We’ll never survive!” Wesley wisely replies: “Nonsense. You’re only saying never because no one ever has.” That is, someday someone might survive, and indeed they do.

Finally, who can forget when Don Corleone does a favor for a man and says: “Someday, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me. But until that day, accept this justice as a gift on my daughter’s wedding day.” Obviously, that is from “The Godfather.” In other words, we learn lines and life lessons from movie, even while we laugh. And slowly, those lines become our own.

In the gospel today, Jesus harnesses the power of story-telling in the form of parables. You see, Jesus’ parables are simply powerful stories in miniature, condensed movies you might say, and they are meant to teach timeless life lessons. Today in Mark he tells the parable of the sower and the seeds. And then the gospel writer, St. Mark, adds: “With many such parable he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it.”

In other words, Jesus knows that the best way for us to learn and remember important life lessons is through story-telling. And so Jesus tells mini-stories called parables so we will remember what he taught, like I remember the famous lines from the Godfather and Princess Bride and Shawshank Redemption. Jesus’ words and lines should become the lines we learn best.

One of the things I really admire about Ozark Catholic Academy is that all new students must take part in a Shakespearean play. This year, I believe, it will be “Taming of the Shrew.” Now, few people understood the power of story-telling better than the Bard (that’s Shakespeare’s nickname). And here at OCA students don’t just watch plays, like modern Americans go to watch movies. No, here you have to be in the play as a character.

That is, you cannot just be a spectator, but you must participate in the play. You have to learn the lines by heart so you will remember them, and not just for the play, but for life. Shakespeare does not want you sitting on the sidelines of life, but rather to be a full and active participant. Life is not a spectator sport. Get in the game. In the play Taming of the Shrew, like in Jesus’ parables, Shakespeare teaches us life lessons while he makes us laugh, and we learn our lines.

Have you ever noticed how the Mass is like a play and a parable? We have actors who take certain roles. I get to be Jesus, and you are the apostles at the Last Supper. And one of you is Judas! Just kidding, we are all Judas when we commit sins. We have lines we must learn and practice until we say them perfectly. Why do have to say these lines and learn them by heart?

Because salvation is not a spectator sport. You cannot sit on the sidelines and just watch the world go by. You have a part to play. In other words, Mass is not just Jesus’ story about what happened to him 2,000 years ago. It is our story and what is happening to us today. Like movies and parables and plays, the Mass harnesses the remarkable power of story-telling to teach life lessons. Only in this case, the lessons are about eternal life, and about eternal death. And that is why we have to learn our lines.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

Part Pointer

Distinguishing between the literal and the literary

01/24/2023

Mk 3:31-35 The mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived at the house. Standing outside, they sent word to Jesus and called him. A crowd seated around him told him, "Your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside asking for you." But he said to them in reply, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

Today I would like to try to explain the difference between the literal and the literary. Now the two words sound very similar but they are dramatically different. The literal is what is on the surface, what is on the page, what we immediately read. But what is literary is the deeper meaning, beyond what is on the surface. And it takes more effort to discern that deeper meaning.

And of course this is extremely important when the read the Scriptures, because sometimes we just stop at the literal level. After we have read what is on the page, we sometimes conclude we have understood all there is. But in fact there are great depths. Therefore we have to learn the read the Scriptures with a literary mindset, beyond the literal. Otherwise, the Bible will remain a closed book to us.

Now I enjoy a very simple example of this every day as I try to train my dog Apollo. He has a hard time moving beyond the literal and catch the literary. Sometimes I point and tell him where he should go and do his business. But instead of looking where I am pointing, Apollo comes and sniffs the tip of my finger. You see, he is stuck at the literal level, what is right in front of his nose. Poor Apollo cannot grasp that when I am pointing to something, I am indicating something beyond the literal, beyond my finger.

Incidentally, this is very surprising to me because part of his DNA is that he is a pointer, so he should readily understand when I am pointing at something. Right?? But unfortunately, he doesn’t (he cannot) because he is stuck at the literal level, understanding only what I say, and nothing beyond the actual words.

And this is essentially what is going on in the Scriptures today, and also why so many people have trouble understanding. When Jesus asks rhetorically who are my mother and brothers and sisters, some readers only hear what Jesus is saying on the literal level, and stop right there. They therefore conclude that Jesus had other brothers and sisters. As a result, Mary, his mother, must have had other children. And such readers think this is rather obvious, because that is what is on the literal level of the story.

In a sense, they are just sniffing my finger like my dog, but not moving beyond, that is, they are not seeing what the Scriptures are pointing at. That is why Jesus has to explain to them to think beyond the literal level. Who are my mother and brothers and sisters? They are the ones who do the will of God. In other words, there is another kind of family that I have come to establish, and so try to think beyond the literal level of a nuclear family, your own immediately family.

There is another kind of family that I belong to and that I want you to belong to, namely, the world-wide family called the Catholic Church. And hence, Christians beautifully refer to one another as brother and sisters in Christ. Catholics refer to their parish priests as father. That is more than what is happening on the surface, the literal level, there is also the deeper meaning, the literary level. And that literary meaning is the more important one.

I would encourage you to read the Scriptures like a murder mystery. Have you ever read a good murder mystery, that was a real page-turner, that keeps you on the edge of your seat? The reader is trying to figure out who dunnit? And there are many people who come across the scene, maybe so and so did it, or so and so did it. But the smart reader will move beyond the surface of the story, if he hopes to solve the murder. You must look deeper at people’s motivations, and why they did it. Thus you discover who is the really guilty party.

Now this is not such a strange analogy for the Scriptures, because the Bible in a sense is a great murder mystery. It is the murder of God. Jesus Christ, the Son of God was murdered. And it is not obvious on the surface, on the literal level, who dunnit. It was not just Pontius Pilate who gave the command to the Roman soldiers. It wasn't just the Pharisees and Sadducees, who put Jesus on trial, and found him guilty of blasphemy.

The real culprit is me, and you. We are the ones who crucified God because of our sins. But that is hard to understand if all you’re doing when you read the Bible is looking at the surface, the literal level. When we do that, the Bible remains a closed book to us, unless we learn to read it in a literary way.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

The Real Problem

Seeing how babies are the solution not the problem

01/23/2023

Lk 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, "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."

Today marks the tragic anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in 1973 establishing the legal right to an abortion. And last year, thank goodness, in a case by the Supreme Court that decision was overturned. And so now it is illegal to take the life of unborn children. And that is a good step in the right direction.

But I believe the deeper issue is still very much with us. And that is the question: are children a problem, or are children the solution to a problem. What problem are children the solution to? The problem of our selfishness. Children do many things, but one thing they do in spades is they help us to overcome our selfishness. And the more children you have the more they help you overcome your selfishness; they sort of squeeze all the self-love out of their parents. This question, therefore, has not been answered by our society: are children a problem or are they the solution to the real problem, which is our selfishness.

Over the course of human history, different peoples and different cultures have seen children as the problem. And so children need to be eliminated. Of course we can quickly peruse Sacred Scripture to see examples of this. Pharaoh, in the time of the slavery of the Israelite people in Egypt, saw Israelite boys as the problem, and so he had them killed. Boys two years old or younger were thrown into the Nile River and killed. The children are the problem, and so Pharaoh continued to be selfish because he didn’t allow the children to help him overcome his selfishness.

Of course the same thing happened at the time of Jesus’ birth, the time of Herod, another king who saw children as a problem. So, he was convinced he had to get rid of the children because they seemed like a threat to him, but really they were a threat to his selfishness, what he wanted. In other words, do we see children as the problem, or are they the solution to the real problem which is our selfishness?

This is the same dynamic at work in our society today. Do adults see children as a problem or as a solution. Here are Immaculate Conception Church, we have various agencies that we support. Every month we send hundreds of dollars of the weekly collection to these various agencies, and one of them is called the Clearinghouse. Perhaps you are not familiar with this agency, but this agency has a backpack lunch program. That means every Friday they prepare backpacks with meals to send home with public school children.

Do you know why the Clearinghouse sends home meals with public school children for the weekend? Because their parents do not provide food for them. You see, these parents have somehow begun to see their children as the problem, instead of the children as the solution to the real problem, which is their selfishness. You see, the children are here to help us overcome our selfishness. And the more children we have the more they help us overcome our selfishness, until there is none of it left. Because we have given it all to the children to raise them.

I have a very unusual theory that I would like to share with you this morning. I have lots of unusual theories. Today’s unusual theory is how the Catholic Church sees children as the solution and not as the problem. It used to be said that a good Catholic family (you’ve heard this before) has a ton of kids. That was the basic definition of a good Catholic family. And the reason that is good is on a number of different levels.

Mom and dad do not have any time for themselves because they are running around chasing their children. But in doing that, they are (perhaps unknowingly) overcoming their deepest problem, namely, their selfishness. But this having many children also has a pretty profound economic impact. Let’s say you have eight children. And often one or two of those children will feel a vocation to the priesthood or to the religious life.

Children from large families feel that since I have all these siblings, someone else can have grandkids for my parents, I will become a nun or a priest. As a result, the pressure is off to get married and have children. So, now you have this kind of pipeline for priests and nuns. And that is why this building behind me was filled with nuns back in the day, when we had good Catholic families with 8 or 9 kids. And the IC rectory would have 3 or 4 priests living there.

And the reason is that we saw children as the solution not as the problem. Because we could see that the real problem, my dear friends, is our selfishness. And that is why today we still need to pray for the protection of life, especially of unborn children and of all children. God is sending them to us, to help us overcome our selfishness, which is the real problem. And by the way, please don’t hear this homily as a criticism of those who only have a few children. I can barely take care of one dog, so who is the really selfish person here today?

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Boys to Men

Seeing the great value of Catholic high schools

01/22/2023

Mt 4:12-17 When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled: Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen. From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

This Sunday we enjoy a very happy coincidence, or as people of faith say, a God-incidence, because we see God’s hand clearly at work. Last year I started promoting a Catholic high school in Tontitown (in Northwest Arkansas) called Ozark Catholic Academy, or OCA. But here in the River Valley, we also have a strong and long tradition of supporting Subiaco Academy (another Catholic high school). So I decided that one Sunday every year we would have “Catholic High School Sunday.” Why?

Well, because in 1973 St. Anne High School closed here at IC, and five years earlier in 1968, St. Scholastica High School had closed. And I feel those closings were a tragedy for our community, and a terrible loss for our children. So, I want to help us see that we still have strong Catholic high school options available to us here in Fort Smith.

Now, why is this a coincidence or better a God-incidence? Well, because Pope Francis has declared this Sunday every year to be the Sunday of the Word of God, where we give God thanks for his Word both in the Scriptures but in how the Bible leads us to his Word in the sacraments. You see, God’s Word is not a book; it is really Jesus.

So how are these two - high schools and Holy Scriptures - related? Well, the one thing you find in Catholic high schools that you don’t find in other high schools is the Word of God in Scripture and sacraments. And the Word of God (Jesus) is the most crucial component of a young man and young women’s education.

When I was at Catholic High School for Boys in Little Rock, my classmates and I often complained to our principal about the name of our school. We whined to Fr. Tribou: “Why is our school called ‘Catholic High School for Boys’? It should be called ‘Catholic High School for Men’!” Fr. Tribou calmly answered us: “While you are here you are boys. And when you graduate from here you some of you might become men.” And that is exactly what Catholic high schools, like Subiaco and OCA do: they take young boys and young girls and transform them into men and women.

But notice that the job of a Catholic high school is not merely to make you any kind of man or any kind of woman, but to make you the Christian-kind of man and the Christian-kind of woman. What’s the difference? The Word of God (Jesus) is the difference! When you graduate from a Catholic high school you should know, love, and be ready to live the Word of God (Jesus), that is, to be another Christ in the world.

In other words, graduating from a Catholic high school would be equivalent to a Jewish bar mitzva. Do you know the literal meaning of bar mitzva? It literally means “son of the law” or “son of the commandment”, or better “son of the Word of God”. A bar mitzva - or a bat mitzva for girls - is a rite of passage from being boys to becoming men. And the critical piece of becoming a man, especilly a Christian man, is the Word of God (Jesus), whom we find in the Scriptures and sacraments, in short we becomes a son of the law, a daughter of the law.

Let me share a few personal stories of how a Catholic high school taught me to become a son of the law. Our principal, as I said, was named Fr. George Tribou, who loved us as fiercely as he disciplined us. He taught us the best definition of a man, saying: “A man is he who controls the animal within which he lives.” I have never heard a better definition of a man. And by the way, that is exactly why our school was called “Catholic High School for Boys”. Teenage boys more often act like animals than men.

Another thing Fr. Tribou taught us was in sex education class. He said that French-kissing a girl was like using someone else’s toothbrush. No wonder I became a priest! Another lesson Fr. Tribou taught us was how to be comfortable. In the 1980’s Catholic High, like many Catholic high schools, did not have air-conditioning. But Fr. Tribou did install air-conditioning in two rooms: the chapel and the library. And that is how you inspire teenage boys to pray and read books. In his own way, Fr. Tribou was teaching us how to become sons of the law, sons of the Word of God. To go from boys to men.

My friends, you don’t have to look very far to see that we live in a society desperately in need of teaching young boys and young girls how to become men and women, especially Christian men and Christian women. Sadly, our culture does not have a clearly defined rite of passage from boyhood to manhood.

And that is why we see thirty years old and forty year olds and even fifty year olds still acting like adolescents. They have not learned how to become sons of the law, or daughters of the law. Perhaps if they had attended a strong Catholic high school they would have gone from being boys to men.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

The Favorite Arrow

Learning how marriage is key to unlock the Scriptures

01/16/2023

Mk 2:18-22 The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast. People came to Jesus and objected, "Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day. No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.”

Jesus gives a very curious answer to the people who ask about his practice of not fasting. And he gives the answer from the perspective of a wedding, and shows himself to be the Bridegroom. Now, that is a very curious answer because Jesus has a quiver of many arrows that he could have used to answer that question. Notice how he gives all kinds of different answers on different occasions.

He talks about how a king going into battle should count if he has enough soldiers to defeat a king coming against him with more soldiers. He uses another arrow about constructing a tower and whether you have enough resources to complete it. On another occasion he speaks about a sower who goes out to sow. In other words, Jesus has all kinds of arrows in his quiver, but Jesus again and again returns to his favorite arrow, which is that of a wedding, and declares himself to be the Bridegroom.

It’s highly suggestive, this particular favorite arrow of Jesus, that he uses to explain who he is, what he is doing, and even who we are. Who is the Church, and what is the Kingdom? In many ways, it is a lot of things, but ultimately, we are the Bride, and the Church is the Bride of Christ. And Jesus declares himself the Bridegroom who wants to marry us. Now, this beautiful arrow explains why Jesus dies on the cross, and how he has come to save us, because ultimately he wants to marry us. A good husband dies for his wife.

A couple of weeks ago I got a phone call from Fr. Daniel Wendel. Some of you may remember him. He was Deacon Daniel Wendel while he was serving here at Immaculate Conception a couple of summers ago. Well, now he is the associate pastor of St. Raphael in Springdale. He called me and asked if I would come and give a retreat at St. Raphael on marriage to married couples. He asked that I especially talk about John Paul II’s theology of the body. And I was very happy to hear that because I’ve read the theology of the body.

Now, do you know what the theology of the body is all about? It is about Jesus’ favorite arrow in his quiver. That again, and again, and again, Jesus explains himself, he explains the mystery of salvation, and he explains the entire Bible in terms of marriage. That is, God’s purpose from the beginning to the end of time, the history of salvation from the book of Genesis to Revelation, can be understood best of all in terms of a marriage. Why?

Well, Genesis 2 recounts the marriage of Adam and Eve, and Revelation 22 concludes with the marriage of the Lamb and his bride, which is the Church. And so in Rv 22 it says: “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come’ [Lord Jesus]’.” The marriage is about to begin. The end of time is a great wedding banquet. And that is why Fr. Daniel Wendel and a group of people organizing this retreat on March 11 want me to speak about Jesus’ favorite arrow in his quiver, the arrow of the Bridegroom and his wedding feast.

We might also think of it like bread crumbs throughout the whole Scripture. If you are picking up the bread crumbs from Genesis to Revelation, this is where that trail of bread crumbs leads: to marriage with Christ. All of the Old Testament and all of the New Testament has been trying to direct us to Jesus, not just so he can forgive us for our sins, and not just so he can save us. But ultimately, so he can marry us! And we need to accept that marriage invitation, otherwise, we would indeed be a foolish virgin as in Matthew 25. Jesus is like the man down on one knee, holding out a ring to us and asking: “Will you marry me?” And he’s waiting for a response from us. Will we marry him?

That is why it is so critical that we get marriage right. That is why the Catholic Church is such a stickler about marriage and getting marriage right. Why she has so many teachings about why different things that attack marriage are wrong. Because if you cannot get marriage right, you won’t understand who Jesus is, you won’t get Jesus right.

You will miss all the bread crumbs in Scripture, if you are confused about marriage. You won’t pick up what the Holy Spirit is putting down throughout all the pages of the Bible. You will miss Jesus’ favorite arrow that he shoots from his quiver when he speaks about himself being the Bridegroom, and we are the bride. You will miss everything. Anyway, you might want to come to that retreat on March 11, and see why this is Jesus’ favorite arrow.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Handle the Truth

Understanding the divine condescension

01/14/2023

Mk 2:13-17 Jesus went out along the sea. All the crowd came to him and he taught them. As he passed by, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus, sitting at the customs post. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed Jesus. While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners sat with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many who followed him. Some scribes who were Pharisees saw that Jesus was eating with sinners and tax collectors and said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus heard this and said to them, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

Today I want to teach you a fancy theological term, and it is the divine condescension. That means that God’s ways are high above our ways as the sky is above the earth. And so we do not immediately understand what God wants to tell us. And so he has to lower himself and come down to our level. He has to humble himself and speak our language in a way that we can understand. Then he can slowly teach us and raise our thoughts above the earth to be more like his thoughts. But first he must come down and meet us where we are at.

And this is something parents do all the time with their children. Children cannot understand immediately how parents think and what they are trying to accomplish, and so the parents have to come down to the children’s level, and speak in such a way that their children can understand. I see this every time we celebrate a funeral Mass. A child cannot comprehend what it means for a person to die. For that matter, can an adult understand what it means for a person to die?

And so we try to help them understand at their level, at the child’s level, what has happened to this person in the casket. We have had quite a few funerals this past week, and I’ve watched parents speak to their little children and say so-and-so is just asleep. They are explaining things at the level of the child. And the child thinks happily: “Oh, okay, he’s just asleep. Maybe he’ll wake up soon.” And it’s okay because the child understands death as well as he can.

Well, we see Jesus in the gospel today practicing this divine condescension, coming down to the level of the scribes and Pharisees. Now you would think these folks would be at a much higher level. They are not the humble poor people, who don’t have any education or knowledge or understanding of the Scriptures. These are the scribes and the Pharisees after all! And yet Jesus has to come down to their level.

When they ask him, “Why do you eat with sinners and tax-collectors”, he answers in a way that they will understand, even though they do not yet understand. He says “I have come not to call the righteous but the sinners.” You see, that’s a way the Pharisees could understand. Why? Well, the Pharisees think like this: "We are righteous, we keep the law. But those people, the tax-collectors and the prostitutes, they are the sinners."

But let me ask you, did Jesus really think the Pharisees and the scribes were righteous and without any sins? Of course not, they too are sinners. We are all sinners. Oh, maybe not in some overt and obvious way, like prostitutes or dictators. But we have our own sins that we harbor in our hearts: jealousies, lack of forgiveness, grudges, greed, pride, lust and so forth. But Jesus is trying to help them by coming down to their level.

It is like Jesus is saying: "Let me explain this in a way that you (Pharisees) might understand: I have come to call the sinners, so it’s okay that I eat with prostitutes and tax-collectors." And the Pharisees can understand and agree to that. But Jesus is slowly trying to help them understand, gradually and gently, that he has come to call all sinners. And that not only tax-collectors and prostitutes, but even the self-righteous Pharisees, are sinners. We are all sinners.

My point is this. A lot of times, Jesus, and God, and the Scriptures, and the Church, have to come down to our level of understanding because we are not quite yet ready for the way things are in heaven. It is like that scene from the movie “A Few Good Men” where Jack Nicholson is on the stand and he is being tried, and he says very defiantly: “You cannot handle the truth.”

That’s very true for all of us, and that is what Jesus is saying to all of us, especially the Pharisees in the gospel: “You cannot handle the truth, that you, too, are sinners. You too need a savior.” That also makes me wonder about you and me, and how we speak to one another. We sometimes soften what we want to say, thinking: “He cannot handle what I have to say; she cannot handle what I have to say.”

We, too, exercise this divine condescension and we say things in a way that we hope the other person can get it. I wonder how often people do that with me. Poor Fr. John can’t quite get this, so let me explain it in a softer, gentler way, so he might catch on. I wonder how many times God does that with me. God might think: “John can’t quite get this, so I will come down to his level, so that maybe, little by little, one day, he will understand.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!