Women Deacons, Part I

Understanding how the Catholic Church could ordain women as deacons

11/09/2023

One of the more controversial suggestions to come out of the Synod on Synodality is the proposal of ordaining women as deacons. Have you heard about that? Some people have said that such a step is absolutely impossible, but I am not so sure. In other words, I think it might be possible to ordain women as deacons but it would require a radical re-thinking of what it means to be a deacon in the first place.

When I was graduating from Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary, I was asked a curious question after my final exam in canon law. My professor was Fr. Kevin Rhoades, who is now bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend, IN. He said: “This is not part of your exam, but I was wondering if you thought the Church could or should ordain women as deacons?” I answered a little nervously: “You are sure this is not part of my exam, right?” Then I added: “I think it may be possible, but it is not opportune, that is, it is not a good time. We have changed so much since Vatican II and people’s heads are still spinning.” So, now I would like to explore how possible ordaining women as deacons really is, and finish that nervous answer I gave back in 1996. Perhaps such a step is now opportune.

First, we should note that back in 1994, Pope St. John Paul II did not entirely slam the door shut on the possibility of ordaining women as deacons. However, he made it crystal clear that women could never be ordained as priests or as bishops. In his apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis (On the Ordination of Priests), he wrote by way of conclusion: “Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church’s divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (Lk 22:32), I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitely held by all the Church’s faithful” (no. 4).

The pope’s declaration is noteworthy both for what it said, but also curious for what it did not say. He insisted that priestly ordination cannot be conferred on women, and by that he indicated both priests and bishops. But he omitted – a rather loud omission to anyone well versed in theology – the ordination of deacons. In other words, kind of like my answer to Bishop Rhoades, the pope was leaving the door open on the possibility of women becoming deacons.

First, let us set the background for this conversation with a little basic Catholic theology. We all know that the sacrament of Holy Orders has three ranks, or levels, or degrees, that constitute the Church’s hierarchy. By the way, the word hierarchy comes from Greek and literally means “the rule of priests.” I rather like that word personally. Those three levels of the hierarchy are deacon, priest, and bishop. Therefore, every time a deacon or priest or bishop is ordained he receives another rank of Holy Orders. In modern parlance we would say he is “promoted” like you get a promotion at work, moving from manager to director to vice president to CEO.

For example, Dc. Greg, Dc. Charlie, Dc. Cesar, and Dc. Candelario were ordained and received the first rank of Holy Orders. Back on May 25, 1996, I was ordained a priest and received the second rank of Holy Orders. On July 22, 2022, my friend Erik Pohlmeier was ordained a bishop and received the third rank of Holy Orders. All other ranks we hear about – monsignor, archbishop, cardinal, and even pope – are all variations on these three fundamental ranks of the Catholic hierarchy. All ordained clergy are at root either deacons, priests, or bishops.

Now even though these three ranks of Holy Orders enjoy a tight unity (all belonging to the hierarchy), there also exists a rather bright red line of demarcation between deacons and the higher ranks of Orders (priests and bishops). That is, there is a fundamental difference between what deacons can do and what priests and bishops can do. The functions and ministries that a deacon does ordinarily and properly, a lay person could do in extraordinary circumstances. For example, it is the proper role of a deacon to celebrate a wedding without a Mass. But if a couple were on a deserted island – think of Gilligan’s Island – where the Professor and Mary Ann wanted to get married, then Ginger could officiate at the wedding. Not so many years ago in Catholic hospitals doctors and nurses were taught how to baptize a baby in an emergency. What a deacon can do ordinarily, a lay person can do extraordinarily.

Or take another example, preaching at Mass. Ordinarily and properly, delivering the homily at Mass is always reserved to the ordained clergy, deacon, priest, or bishop. However, if there is a shortage of clergy on a given Sunday – both Fr. Bala and I have COVID and must be quarantined, and all the other priests in Fort Smith are on vacation – the bishop could give permission to a lay person to conduct a Celebration of the Word in the Absence of a Priest, which includes preaching, as prescribed by canon 766. Notice again how a ministry that a deacon performs as an ordinary part of his duties can be fulfilled by a lay person when the circumstances are urgent and warrant it.

In other words, there is a certain overlap between lay persons and deacons. In a sense, and I say this with great love and respect, deacons are glorified lay persons whose ordinary ministries are lay person could carry out in extraordinary circumstances. However, that overlap stops abruptly at the order of priests and bishops. That is, under no circumstances, no matter how dire, even in the case of life and death, could a lay person celebrate Mass, or hear a penitent’s confession, or anoint the sick with sacred oil. And I hope it goes without saying that the two sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Orders that belong properly and principally to a bishop can under no circumstances be performed by a lay person.

Can you see the bright red line between the rank of deacon and the higher ranks of priests and bishops? In other words, this fundamental difference between deacons on the one hand, and priests and bishops on the other hand, is why both Pope St. John Paul II, and I said that women absolutely cannot be ordained as priests and bishops, but they might be ordained as deacons.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Cabbages Cannot Vegetate

Grasping the utter uniqueness of every human person

11/07/2023

Lk 14:15-24 One of those at table with Jesus said to him, "Blessed is the one who will dine in the Kingdom of God." He replied to him, "A man gave a great dinner to which he invited many. When the time for the dinner came, he dispatched his servant to say to those invited, 'Come, everything is now ready.' But one by one, they all began to excuse themselves. The first said to him, 'I have purchased a field and must go to examine it; I ask you, consider me excused.' And another said, 'I have purchased five yoke of oxen and am on my way to evaluate them; I ask you, consider me excused.' And another said, 'I have just married a woman, and therefore I cannot come.' The servant went and reported this to his master. Then the master of the house in a rage commanded his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in here the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame.' The servant reported, 'Sir, your orders have been carried out and still there is room.' The master then ordered the servant, 'Go out to the highways and hedgerows and make people come in that my home may be filled. For, I tell you, none of those men who were invited will taste my dinner.'"

It is an extraordinary thing to be a human being, as it proclaims in Ps 8, “You have made him [man] little less than a god, crowned him with glory and honor.” Even though God created man and woman from the dust of the ground, he nonetheless made him in his “image and likeness” (Gn 1:26), by giving us a spiritual soul. Someone recently sent me this little joke: “You came from dust and you will return to dust. That’s why I don’t dust. It could be someone I know.”

Still, even though we are dust, we are nonetheless also divine because our soul is God’s gift to us at the moment of conception. And hence, this beautiful unity of body and soul that is every person makes us “god like.” By the way that is why Indians from my home country bow when they meet someone. They are saying: “I bow to the divine in you.”

Now if you can ponder this principle of our human uniqueness to its depths – and it is very deep – you can discover come important insights. For example, everything a human being does is particularly human. When we eat a meal, for instance, we do so as a body-soul composite, not merely as the animals do. By the way I always try to eat at the same time as my dog, Apollo. That way he does not get jealous of my food, and I do not get jealous of his food. One of our rules is, “no people food for Apollo.”

But even though it looks like we are both doing the same action – chewing, tasting, swallowing, and licking our lips – what I do and what Apollo does are two radically different actions. Why? Because my body is infused with a spiritual soul and that makes my activity uniquely human and therefore god-like, and not animal-like. Joseph Pieper made this point memorably in a book I hope you will read one day.

He wrote: “It is one of the characteristics of man, a corporeal and spiritual being, that it should be his spiritual soul which informs the physical and sensitive realms – to such a degree that taking food in man and animals are two utterly different things. It is so true that the spiritual soul informs the whole of man’s nature that even when a man ‘vegetates’ it is ultimately only possible because he is spiritual – a cabbage cannot vegetate” (Leisure, the Basis of Culture, 105).

What a piercing insight to remark that a cabbage cannot vegetate. Why is that? Because you would think that if there is anything in the world a cabbage could do it would be to act like a cabbage, to “vegetate.” But Pieper’s point is precisely that: when a human being acts like a cabbage and vegetates he does it in a radically and uniquely different manner than a cabbage does because man is much more than a cabbage, whereas a cabbage is only a cabbage. In other words, when a man vegetates, he does so as someone who is “little less than a god,” not like a cabbage.

Now, why did I tell you all this? It was in order to shed some light on a rather innocuous comment in the gospel this morning. We read: “One of those at table with Jesus said to him, ‘Blessed is the one who will dine in the Kingdom of God.’” But then Jesus gives examples of people invited to dine in the Kingdom but have better things to do. Jesus saying in effect: “You are right: that is a huge blessing to dine with me in my Kingdom because dining and eating for humans is not only a god-like thing to do, but in my Kingdom you will be dining with God himself.”

But those who reject the invitation cannot see how enormous that experience would be. In fact, they prefer to go about doing their daily chores. It is like I invite Apollo to eat together and share a meal with me, someone created in God’s image and likeness, and sometimes Apollo answers: “Eh, no thanks. I would rather play with a stick, or take a nap, or destroy more furniture.” And of course we receive this invitation to dine with Jesus at every Mass: the god-like eating with God.

I will conclude with a little confession. I often get invitations to dinner receptions after weddings and quinceaneras and baptisms. But I almost always decline because after a long day of weddings, baptisms, and quiceaneras, it feels like a huge expenditure of energy to socialize when I feel exhausted. But I will try to remember that to dine with other human beings is to eat and drink with the god-like. And I will try not to go home and vegetate like a cabbage.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Polygamy with God

Learning how not to serve two masters

11/05/2023

Mt 23:1-12 Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people's shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. All their works are performed to be seen. They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation 'Rabbi.' As for you, do not be called 'Rabbi.' You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers. Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. Do not be called 'Master'; you have but one master, the Christ. The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted."

I would like to begin today’s homily with a little humor. As Mary Poppin’s sang: “Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down…in the most delightful way.” A Mormon acquaintance once pushed Mark Twain into an argument on the issues of polygamy. After long and tedious expositions justifying the practice of polygamy, the Mormon demanded that Twain cite any passage of Scripture expressly forbidding polygamy. “Nothing easier,” Twain replied, and added: “No man can serve two masters.” By the way, Lord knows it’s hard enough for a man to serve one master, one wife, let alone two!

I start with that short story because it perfectly sets the stage for today’s gospel where Jesus forbids calling anyone else “Father,” or “Rabbi,” or “Teacher.” As you know, some Protestants cite this passage in Mt 23:8-10 to argue why we should not call Catholic priests “Father.” But I believe that misses Jesus’ main point, which is to listen, love, and obey God alone. No one else should be on the same pedestal as God.

In other words, don’t practice a sort of polygamy with God, that is, don’t treat other people or even other things with the reverence and respect we should offer only to God. But sometimes we do allow rivals to God like when we skip Sunday Mass for sports, or accept unethical business practices to please our boss, or drink alcohol to excess hurting family and friends. In such moments we should remember Mark Twain’s brilliant argument against polygamy: no man can serve two masters.

Today I would like to suggest three ways we can avoid practicing polygamy with God, and serve only one Master, namely our Creator. First, get involved in a Scripture study program. You see, the Bible is called the Word of God. Why? Well, because that is where we hear his voice loud and clear telling us how much he loves us, and inviting us to love him wholly and solely as our Beloved.

Recently, one group from IC did an online Bible study with two ladies from Syracuse, NY. A couple of weekends ago, the Syracuse ladies flew to Fort Smith to visit their Bible buddies and came to Mass here at I.C. and I got to meet them. Love of God leads to love of neighbor in Bible study. In Sacred Scripture we hear God’s Word of love and invite others to love him, too.

Second, listen to the Church and follow her teachings because the Church too echoes God’s Word in the world today. And by the way, when I say listen to the Church I don’t mean ask any priest what the Church teaches. Why not? Well, I know some Catholics who go to several priests until they get the answer they are looking for. That is like going to multiple doctors until someone gives you the diagnosis you want to hear. That approach will not heal what ails you spiritual or physically.

Whenever someone asks me what the Church teaches, I answer: “Here’s what I think. But go double check that in the Catechism. And if I am wrong, please come back and tell me so I can stop giving people bad advice!” In other words, the Catechism is what the Church teaches in all places and at all times, not some fringe group of Catholics, or some fringe priest, like Fr. John.

And third spend time in silence, solitude, and stillness. Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God.” Heck, even Superman frequented his Fortress of Solitude, to escape the madness of Metropolis, so he could be alone and discover his identity and purpose. Silence, solitude, and stillness means putting down your phone, turning off the tv or radio, and even calming your bodily activity. All these things can be rivals to God and sabotage our singular love for him.

Only when are silent, still, and in solitude can we hear God’s voice speaking in our conscience. The Catechism describes our conscience as our Fortress of Solitude, saying: “His conscience is man’s most secret core and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths” (no. 1776). Our inner compass called conscience always tells us that we are created to love one Spouse, and that Spouse is God. And to divorce ourselves from other gods.

My friends, it is not only Mormonism that practices polygamy; we all do. In a spiritual sense we all try to practice polygamy with God when we try to love other rivals as much as we love him. That temptation is the ultimate reason Jesus said do not call anyone on earth “Father” or “Rabbi” or “Master.” Why? Because “No man can serve two masters.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Alas Poor Yorick

Praying for the resurrection of the body and soul

11/02/2023

Jn 6:37-40 Jesus said to the crowds: “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.”

Today on the Commemoration of All Souls, the Church invites us to reflect on the experience of death. Death is certainly a sad subject, but it can also be very spiritually fruitful. Many years ago seminarians were encouraged to keep a human skull on their desk in their room. That may seem morbid to the modern mentality, but the idea was to remember that we will all one day die and to be prepared for the next world.

I would like to mentally place a skull in front of you in this homily, and reflect on the reality of death. I want to be like Hamlet holding the skull of his friend and saying, “Alas poor Yorick! I knew him well!” I would like us to get to know death well. Let me suggest four observations about death.

First, we cannot scientifically pinpoint the moment of death. Of course doctors write the time of death on a person’s death certificate. But that medical judgement is based on signs of the body: the prolonged cessation of a heartbeat, or the irreversible end of brainwave function. But death is not primarily a biological event, but a spiritual event. That is, the real moment of death is when the soul leaves the body, and that is beyond the acumen of the most brilliant medical mind.

I remember they taught us in seminary that if you come to the hospital and the doctor has already pronounced the patient dead, you should feel the person’s arm. If his or her arm is still warm, you can still give the anointing of the sick. Why? Well, because we do not know the mysterious moment when the soul leaves the body, so err on the side of hope – hopefully the soul is still there – and anoint anyway. So the first point is that the death of a human being – unlike the death of an animal – is a spiritual event, the separation of the body and soul.

Secondly, the moment of death is the mirror opposite of the moment of life. That is, just as death is the separation of the body and soul, so the moment of life is the union of the body and soul. This fact is why Catholics are adamantly prolife. We are convinced that a new human being has burst onto the stage at the moment of conception. Why do we hold that view? Because we believe conception is when God infuses a spiritual soul into that union of a sperm and egg called a zygote or embryo.

In other words, new human beings do not come into existence simply by the sexual act of a man and a woman, but also requires an act of God. Each parent provides 23 chromosomes, but only God can supply the soul. The moment of conception, therefore, is the union of the body and soul. And consequently, the true moment of death is the separation of the body and soul. The second point is that conception and death are opposite but closely related human experiences.

The third point as we stare at this skull, and this is based more on faith than fact, more on Scripture than science, is that if Adam and Eve had never eaten the forbidden fruit, human beings would not have experienced death. For most modern people that statement causes a brain cramp because it seems ludicrous to believe that humans would not have died. This is why I said this observation about death is based more on faith than fact, more on Scripture than science.

But if we grant that death is essentially a spiritual experience, the separation of the body and the soul, then sin, like the original sin of Adam and Eve, created a fissure in that intimate bond between body and soul. And every time we commit personal sins (gluttony or greed, lust or laziness), that fissure grows into a fault line.

Think of the fault line in California called the San Andreas Fault. One day that geological fault line may make California into an island in the Pacific Ocean when it is entirely separated from the mainland. In the same way, our sins contribute to the spiritual fault line between the body and soul, until one day we die, when the soul is separated from the mainland of the body.

If human beings had never sinned, there would never have been a fissure or fault line between the body and soul, and thus no death. Why? Because death is essentially a spiritual event: the separation of the body and the soul. The fourth point, therefore, is the causal connection between sin and death: if we didn’t have sin, we wouldn’t have death.

And the fourth point is what we are doing today: praying for the dead. We have erected an altar for the poor souls in Purgatory. But notice our prayers are not only for the salvation of souls (although we often say that). Rather, our real hope and prayer is for the resurrection of bodies. In other words, the end goal of human existence is not for the soul to make it to heaven and the body to rot in the earth. Instead, our final beatitude in heaven will be the resurrection of the body from the grave and the reunion of the body and soul like at the first moment of conception.

Can you see how all these four points fit tightly together? They are logically inseparable. Death is the separation of the body and soul. Conception is the initial union of the body and soul in our mother’s womb. Sin causes a fissure and fault line between body and soul leading to death. Finally, we pray for the glorious reunion of the body and soul on the great day of resurrection. Jesus said in today’s gospel: “And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it (raise the body) on the last day.” We pray that even alas poor Yorick’s skull will be reunited with his soul.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

Opposite Day

Learning the difference between earth and heaven

11/01/2023

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."

When I was a little boy my friends and I would play a game called “opposite day.” Have you ever played that game before? Whatever someone said we would try to think of its opposite. If I said, for example, “black” they would say “white.” If I said, “It’s super cold this morning,” they would say, “It’s super hot this morning!” If I said, “Oh, I’m just a poor priest,” they would counter with “Oh, you are just a rich priest.” If I said, “The answer is yes,” they would say, “The answer is no.”

That reminds me of that scene from the movie “Pink Panther.” Inspector Clouseau checks into a hotel and talks to a man seated at the desk. There is a dog next to the desk, and so Clouseau asks, “Does your dog bite?” The man answers, “No, my dog does not bite.” So Clouseau reaches down to pet the dog, who growls and bites him. Clouseau says, “Hey, I thought you said your dog does not bite.” The man replies, “That is not my dog.” In other words, the man at the desk was playing opposite day with Inspector Clouseau. He should have said “yes” but instead he said, “no.”

In the Bible readings today we find another example of opposite day. In the first reading from Revelation saints make their robes white when they wash them in the Blood of the Lamb. If you get some blood on a white shirt, will it become white? No. But in the Bible the opposite happens: Blood cleans, washes, and makes perfect, when we are dealing with the Blood of the Lamb, Jesus.

In the gospel Jesus plays opposite day when he teaches his beautiful Beatitudes. The poor in spirit will be rich in the Kingdom. Those who are sad will be happy. Those who are hungry will be fed (probably chicken nuggets). Those who are rejected for doing the right thing will be praised by God. In other words, the Bible teaches us that opposite day is not just a game for small children to learn the difference between synonyms and antonyms.

Instead, opposite day gets to the heart of the gospel and what it means to be a Christian. Why? Because that is what it means to be like Jesus. How so? Well, people thought Jesus was poor, but he was really rich in mercy. They thought he was naked but he was clothed in grace and glory.

Everyone believed he was left alone on the Cross, but he always enjoyed the company of his Heavenly Father and his earthly Mother, Mary. The Roman soldiers thought he was beaten, bloody, and helpless hanging on the Cross, utterly defeated, but that was the moment of Jesus’ greatest victory and triumph, when he flexed his real muscles by being obedient to God’s will.

Boys and girls, I want you to keep this opposite day game in the back of your mind as you go through the day, and go through your life. Why? Well, because the way things look on earth may not be how they will look in heaven, in fact, they will look the opposite. For example, if you see a girl who does not look very pretty on earth, they will be prettier than Taylor Swift in heaven.

If you see someone who is clumsy or can’t play sports on earth, they will play tennis better than Roger Federer in heaven. If you see someone who has suffered and is sad a lot on earth, they will be super happy in heaven. If you see someone poor and homeless on earth, one day, they will have the biggest mansion in heaven.

You see, boys and girls, opposite day is not just a game for children to play to learn the difference between synonyms and antonyms. It is a game all people need to play to learn the difference between heaven and earth. So, when I say, “I am just a poor priest who doesn’t have two pennies to rub together,” and when you answer, “No, you are a rich priest who has more wealth than the whole world,” both statements are absolutely true. Why? Because opposite day is every day.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

 

Drink Deeply

Rediscovering the day we fell in love with God

10/31/2023

Mt 22:34-40 When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law tested him by asking, "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."

Jesus teaches us the greatest commandment in the gospel today: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, all your soul, and with all your mind.” So, let me ask you today: when did you first fall in love with God, and start loving him? Now, why is that first falling in love so important? Well, just like married couples should go back to the day they first met and fell in love – have you ever taken that walk down memory lane? – so, too Christians should return to the day we first met and fell in love with God.

In other words, that original encounter with God – when our eyes met across a crowded room – carries all the love that will later spill out from our hearts to his, and from his heart to us, like the first sentence of a great novel always contains the whole novel in a nutshell. Herman Melville’s classic Moby Dick opens with the memorable line, “Call me Ishmael.” That small sentence is the whole book in three words.

May I share with you when I first fell in love with God, and perhaps it will jog your memory of how and when that magical moment happened for you. God actually reached out and touched me through a traumatic event when I was seven years old and living in New Delhi, India. That is where I was born and raised “as you can tell from my very thick Indian accent.”

I loved my young life in New Delhi: sitting in a balcony seat in a movie theater down the street from my house; eating spicy Indian food every day; riding on the back of my uncle’s motorcycle and dodging the sacred cows in the middle of the street, and fluently speaking three languages: English, Hindi, and Malayalam. My life was great, but suddenly in 1976 it was all taken away. How so?

My family moved to another country where I knew no one, attended school with stranger little kids who did not look like or talk like me, where I could not find decent spicy food. I did not enjoy the meals, or music or movies; and movie theaters do not have balcony seats here! I felt like I had lost everything I loved or cared about.

I began to see this seven year old trauma repeating itself through life: we keep losing the people and things we love, and ultimately we lose our own bodies in death. At the same time, however, it hit me like a revelation of light in that darkness and despair, like St. Paul being knocked off his horse on the road to Damascus by a blinding flash of light. I discovered there is one Thing I can never lose, namely, God.

That is, the same God who had been the source of my joys in India would sustain me through all my new adventures in America. In fact, a Hindu friend gave my father the same advice before we left. He said: “The same God whom you worship here in India is the same God who will be with you in America.” In other words, in 1976 I first fell in love with God, the God who would never leave me, even when I would lose everything else.

And I have gone back to that first experience like a deep well and drawn out much water of grace, like the Samaritan woman who fell in love with Jesus at a well. Do you remember what Jesus promised her? He said: I will give you living water that would be “a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jn 4:14). Let me share with you when I took an especially deep drink from that well of God’s love that I discovered back in 1976.

I was 17 years old and thinking about becoming a priest. Like most people, I wanted to help others, but I wanted to help people in the best and most permanent way possible. It occurred to me – this is the well water now – that I could help people in two ways. One, is materially by giving the food, shelter, and clothing. Or second, I could help them spiritually by giving them the love of Jesus, his grace and mercy in the sacraments.

Then I asked myself: which of these two ways of helping people lasts longer? You know the answer of course. Material needs are only earthly but spiritual needs are eternal. And who provides for people’s spiritual needs? Bingo: priests do. But can you taste the well water of God’s love for me 10 years later when I was 17? Ever since I was seven and left India, I have not been concerned so much with things that don’t last – and nothing earthly ultimately lasts.

But rather my concern was with God who lasts forever and the One I can never lose. Just like couples should go back to drink deeply of their original encounter and experience of falling in love, so, too, we Christians should frequently return to our first experience of falling in love with the Lord and drink deeply of that well water. I wonder how often the Samaritan woman returned to that earthly well where she met Jesus, not to draw water from it, but to remember “the spring of living water” that was now “welling up to eternal life within” her heart?

My friends, I would urge you to try to return to the day and way you first fell in love with God. I cannot guess how that happened for each of you, just like you probably could not have guessed how it happened for me five minutes ago. In other words, divine love is as unique and unrepeatable just like a kiss is. No two people kiss exactly the same. I’m just guessing about that; I did a google search on that to make sure I was right.

But I hope by sharing my own story of falling in love with God may sparks some memories of how that happened for you. Don’t discount that you can fall in love with God even in a traumatic moment. Sometimes when we think we are farthest from God, surprisingly, that is when God is closest to us. It’s like that old bumper sticker that asks: “Do you feel far from God? Well, who moved?” And when we remember his closeness, we can love God a little more with all our hearts, soul and mind.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Elevator or Stairs

Not blaming our birth for virtues and vices

10/29/2023

Rom 7:18-25a Brothers and sisters: I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh. The willing is ready at hand, but doing the good is not. For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. So, then, I discover the principle that when I want to do right, evil is at hand. For I take delight in the law of God, in my inner self, but I see in my members another principle at war with the law of my mind, taking me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Miserable one that I am! Who will deliver me from this mortal body? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

I have a little riddle for you to see how smart you are. Since you attend OCA, you should all be very smart. A few days ago I went to visit someone in the hospital and the patient was on the fourth floor. I decided to take the stairs because I figured I needed a little exercise and because I had biscuits and gravy for breakfast and I needed to work it off.

But have you ever noticed how it’s always the skinny people who always take the stairs? Now, here’s my riddle: is it because people take the stairs that they are skinny, or is it because they are skinny that they take the stairs? Put differently, which comes first, the skinniness or the stairs?

Now, sometimes we blame our birth for our vices as well as our virtues. We say, “Oh, she’s just skinny because she was born that way, not because she takes the stairs at the hospital.” Or, sometimes we say the opposite: “I am overweight because I was born that way.” And there may be some truth in accidents of birth.

But here is the deeper biological and theological fact. We are all born lazy, we are all born gluttonous, we are all born lustful, we are all born proud, we are all born envious, we are all born greedy, we are all born angry. In other words, we are all born with a tendency to sin called original sin, that is, we are all born with a tendency to take the elevator rather than the stairs, even the skinny people.

In the first reading today we find the “locus classicus” (meaning the classic location) in the Bible where St. Paul speaks about original sin and concupiscence. He writes to the Romans: “The willing is ready at hand, but doing the good is not. For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want.” In other words, I know the good thing to do would be to take the stairs, but I end up in the elevator and do not do the good I want. Even though we know Baptism washes away original sin, there remains the tendency to sin called concupiscence.

Boys and girls, can I offer you some additional examples of fighting concupiscence like taking the stairs rather than the elevator? Why? Well, because we are all born lazy and lustful, greedy and gluttonous, and our Christian life is a constant battle against this concupiscence. Let me give you ten examples.

One, if you like to drink coffee, take it black without an sugar or creamer. Two, when you sit in a chair (or a pew in church), practice good posture, sit up straight and don’t slouch. Three, when your alarm clock goes off in the morning, get up the first time it rings, don’t keep hitting the snooze button. Four, When someone asks you a question, answer “Yes sir,” or “No, ma’am,” or “Thank you, ma’am,” or “No thank you, sir.” I did that going through the McDonald’s drive through last week, and it put a huge smile on the server’s face.

Five, Take your hat off when you walk into a building and put it back on when you walk back outside. Ladies can keep their hats on inside. Six, when you park your car look for a spot far from the door so others can take the closer spots. Seven, at dinner always fill other’s iced tea or water or soda glass before you top off your own.

Eight, try to limit your screen time on your phone, or laptop, or Ipad to 2-3 hours a day; instead, get outside and play sports, or read a book (written on a dead tree), or visit a friend. Homework does not count toward the 2-3 hours. Nine, when you drive, try not to go more than five miles over the speed limit.

By the way, our bishop always drives exactly the speed limit. I know that because one day I passed him on I-49, and I felt worse than passing a state trooper. And ten, when you get up in the morning make the Sign of the Cross before you run to the bathroom. And say an Act of Contrition every night before you lay down, close your eyes, and fall asleep.

Now let me ask you that riddle again but in a different context. Is it because someone practices these things that they are a Christian, or is it because they are a Christian that they practice these things? Which comes first, being a Christian or living as a Christian? Well, it’s both – we learn by doing. But mostly it is because we know we are born with a tendency to sin, and we are constantly at war with ourselves. As the Pogo cartoon strip famously said: “We have met the enemy, and the enemy is us.” Elevator or stairs?

Praised be Jesus Christ!