Drill Baby Drill

Exploring the meaning of being “a descendant of Abraham”

11/19/2024

LK 19:1-10 At that time Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a thief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.” And he came down quickly and received him with joy. When they saw this, they began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”

Jesus pays Zacchaeus a great compliment in today’s gospel – calling him “a descendant of Abraham” – that I would like to drill down into a little further. As our friends in the oil and gas industry like to say, “Drill, baby, drill!” But first we should note that Zacchaeus is not only a wealthy tax-collector, he is a greedy man, or as the crowd said, “a sinner.”

That was the ostensible reputation of tax-collectors: greedy Jews who worked for the occupying Romans. But when diminutive Zacchaeus meets Jesus, he has a profound conversion. That is, he exchanges his greed for generosity, adjuring to Jesus: “Behold half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.”

In other words, Zacchaeus understands that following Jesus is his greatest treasure, and his worldly wealth suddenly didn’t seem so important to him. As St. Paul puts it in Phil 3:7, “Whatever gains I had, these I have come to consider a loss because of Christ.” A couple of verses later, he would call it "rubbish."

Seeing Zacchaeus sincerity, Jesus says to him, “Today salvation has come to this house because this man, too, is a descendant of Abraham.” In other words, Jesus declares that what it takes to be a true “descendant of Abraham” is to have the faith of Abraham, which ultimately means to have faith in Jesus.

You see, the true Jew is not one who stubbornly follows his ancestors’ traditions, and stays staunchly Jewish. But rather he sees that his ancestors, especially Abraham, were awaiting the Messiah, and the Messiah had come in Jesus. The best Jew, therefore, becomes a Christian.

A few weeks ago I visited a family for dinner and they asked me if I had watched the series called “The Chosen.” And I said “no.” If everyone is watching it, then I’m not. So they invited me to watch a clip of a scene where Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth. As we know, Jesus reads from the scroll of Isaiah, and then dramatically declares: “Today this passage is fulfilled in your hearing."

The rabbi of the synagogue takes offense and asks indignantly: “Do you mean to say you are greater than the law of Moses?” Jesus stares at him steadily, and answers coolly: “I am the law of Moses.” In other words, the time has come to stop being a Jew and to start being a Christian. Why?

Because faith in Christ is precisely what the Jewish patriarchs like Abraham and Moses were pointing to. That fullness of Abrahamic faith is what Jesus meant when he called Zacchaeus “a descendant of Abraham.” Our Lord did not mean Zacchaeus was a good Jew; he meant he was a good Christian.

St. Paul will pick up on this point in his combative letter to the Galatians. In the third verse from the end, Gal 6:16, Paul writes: “Peace and mercy be to all who follow this rule [being a Christian], and to the Israel of God.” Did you catch that curious connection? The Apostle to the Gentiles argues that the Church is the true Israel, and therefore, the old Israel is obsolete. The authentic Israeli, therefore, is the Christian.

Let’s drill a little further. Have you heard the Old Testament referred to as “The Hebrew Scriptures”? Modern Scripture scholars who use that title feel that the name “The Old Testament” sounds pejorative, as if those forty-six books were second class and somehow inferior to the New Testament.

But that is exactly the correct reading of the whole Bible. How so? Well, the old has prepared the way for the new and now the Old Testament stands waiting upon the New Testament, like a handmaid waiting upon her queen. That is what Jesus meant when he called Zacchaeus "a descendant of Abraham", and when he declared defiantly, “I am the law of Moses.”

Here is one last drill bit, another way to illustrate this crucial point. Have you heard of the Crusades? They were military expeditions launched from Christian countries in Europe to win back the Holy Land. Incidentally, I attended the University of Dallas, and we were called the Crusaders. Anyway, from 1095 t0 1291, a series of crusades were undertaken to wrest control of the Holy Land back from the Muslims who had over run it.

Why did we do that? Because we believed that the Holy Land of Israel really belonged to the Christians, just like we believe the Old Testament really belongs to the Christians, and we believe the title “Israel” really belongs to the Christians, and we believe being “a descendant of Abraham” really belongs to the Christians. I am not suggesting we put on armor, strap on our swords, mount our steeds and fight the Crusades all over again. I just hope we can appreciate why the medieval Christians did.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Sky Is Falling

Preparing for the end of the world in different ways

11/17/2024

Mk 13:24-32 Jesus said to his disciples: "In those days after that tribulation the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. "And then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in the clouds' with great power and glory, and then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky. "Learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see these things happening, know that he is near, at the gates.  Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. "But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."

Have you heard the story about Chicken Little? It originated as a European folktale about the adventure of a little chicken. In Europe he's called Henny Penny, but we Americans like to call him "Chicken Little." One day, an acorn fell on Chicken Little's head, and he mistakenly believed that the sky was falling, that the world was about to come to an end.

He decided he must warn the king, and headed off for the royal palace. Along the way, he shouts, "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" Now, various animals join his crusade with funny names: Cocky Locky, Drakey Lakey, Goosey Loosey, Turkey Lurkey, and Ducky Lucky. And a very handsome dog named Apollo Wallo.

Before they reach the king, though, they meet sinister Foxy Loxy. He listens to their story, and invites them to his lair to discuss matters further. But when they enter his house, Foxy Loxy tries to kill the animals. But brave Apollo Wallo saves them and shuts Foxy Loxy in his own lair. I just made up that ending.

In the real story the fox eats the other animals. The point of this parable is to highlight how gullible people can be believing stories like "the sky is falling.” Gullible people are quick to jump on the bandwagon of the parade of poultry.

In the gospel today Jesus sounds a lot like Chicken Little shouting “the sky is falling,” when he says: "The sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken." But then he also adds this crucial caveat: "But of that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."

In other words, Jesus is predicting the sky will fall one day, but we do not know when. So, his point is always be prepared. In a sense, always live like the sky is falling so will always be ready when it does. Chicken Little was right but for the wrong reasons.

May I draw three practical take-aways from this gospel passage bout the sky is falling? First, we heard a lot of rhetoric during the recent presidential election about how the two candidates represented "an existential threat to democracy." Essentially, each party acted like Chicken Little warning that if the other candidate won, he or she would usher in the end of American civilization. But one candidate has won, and we are all still here. If the other candidate had won, we would still be here.

My friends, our great nation will indeed come to an end, but not by the 2024 election. I will never forget that scene in the movie Top Gun: Maverick, when the Real Admiral warns Maverick: "The end is inevitable, Maverick. Your kind is headed for extinction." Maverick turns and agrees: "Maybe so sir. But not today." So, too, the end is inevitable and one day our country will be extinct. But not today. In other words, don’t be so gullible and jump on the bandwagon of the poultry parade.

A second application of how the sky is falling touches each person individually. That is, one day our own personal world will end when we die. Someday Fr. John Antony's "sky will fall" and I will no longer see the sky, but will be laid "six feet under, pushing up daisies." But we sometimes pretend that we will live forever and never die. But that earthly immortality is an illusion, and a dangerous illusion.

On the other hand, the Church, a little like Chicken Little, urges us to pray for a happy death, that is, to die in the state of grace. In the past two weeks I've presided at the funerals of Dc. Bill Curry, Roger Wallace, and Lori Cravens. This coming week we will have the funerals for Rosemary Reith and Terry Upchurch. They all died a happy death when their sky fell, and we should pray for the same, because some day our sky will fall, too. So, just call me Chicken Little.

And the third application is to remember there is one place the sky will never fall, namely, the Church, which St. Augustine called "The City of God,” where the Son, Jesus, is always shining in the sky. One of my favorite Bible verses is Hb 13:14, which states, "Here we have no lasting city." That verse refers to all the earthly cities that we live in: Fort Smith, Van Buren, Muldrow, Pocola, etc. But that verse also implies that there is another city that will last forever, namely, the Kingdom of God, the Church.

But there is no shortage of Chicken Littles today claiming that the Church is doomed. I haven't seen it, but the recent movie called "Conclave" about the election of a pope by corrupt cardinals making the Church appear nothing more than a corporate boardroom where shady deals occur. But the reality is very different.

Jesus promised in Mt 16:18 that he would build his Church on the rock of St. Peter and the gates of Hades would not prevail against it, no matter what Chicken Little, or Hollywood says. That is why we belong to the Catholic Church: it is the one city where the sky will never fall. There's an old saying that "there are only two things in life that are certain are death and taxes."

But I would suggest that there is a third thing, namely, that Christ's Church will endure forever. My friends, make your citizenship in that Eternal City permanent. Then you can relax and no jump on the bandwagon when you see the poultry parade of Chicken Little, Cocky Locky, Drakey Lakey, Goosey Loosey. Why? Because our sky is not falling, and it never will.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

The Disaster of Democracy

Seeing how the minority see through the eyes of faith

11/18/2024

LK 18:35-43 As Jesus approached Jericho a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging, and hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what was happening. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” He shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!” The people walking in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent, but he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me!” Then Jesus stopped and ordered that he be brought to him; and when he came near, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He replied, “Lord, please let me see.” Jesus told him, “Have sight; your faith has saved you.” He immediately received his sight and followed him, giving glory to God. When they saw this, all the people gave praise to God.

I have never been a fan of going with the crowd, or doing whatever the majority of my friends were doing. In fact, I think that was one major factor in my decision to pursue the priesthood. No one else was doing it! And when I was ordained back in 1996, I was the only one ordained that year. I got all the glory!

I sometimes wonder if I would have been as excited about going into seminary today when we have an abundance of young men discerning the call. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, and maybe even counter-cultural here in the U.S. where the majority picks the president, but I have always harbored a healthy suspicion of the majority report, and prefer to throw my lot in with the minority.

In the gospel today something similar occurs. The crowd does not see while the one blind man can see. When a blind man hears Jesus is passing by he begins to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!” How did the crowd (the majority) react to the blind man’s prayer? We read: “The people walking in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent.”

Can you catch the irony of this scene? The blind man is the only one who sees clearly who Jesus is, while the crowd with supposedly 20/20 vision is completely blind to our Lord’s true identity. The minority report got it right, not the majority report.

I’ll never forget how Archbishop Fulton Sheen argued that God always works through the minority and never the majority. And he gave two stunning examples. First, in Number 13, Moses sends 12 scouts to do a reconnaissance mission into the Promised Land to get the lay of the land.

10 scouts return with a very discouraging report, saying the Philistines are like giants and would crush the Israelites. But 2 scouts – Joshua and Caleb – assure the people that with God on their side they can conquer the land easily. The majority report was mistaken and the minority report was spot on.

Sheen’s second example was from 1968. Pope Paul VI had set up a commission of 12 cardinals to examine the question of contraception. You might remember the 60’s was the time of the sexual revolution, sparked in no small part by the dawn of the contraceptive pill. 10 of the cardinals said that in exceptional cases contraception would be morally licit. But 2 cardinals disagreed and insisted that contraception was immoral in all circumstances.

Pope Saint Paul VI went with the minority report and issues his landmark papal encyclical called “Humanae Vitae” (On Human Life) teaching that Catholics, indeed anyone, who uses contraception commits a morally illicit act. Incidentally, one of the archbishops who helped on that commission was Karol Woytila from Poland, who later became Pope St. John Paul II. I will give you one guess which way he voted.

And even if a majority of Catholics today regularly use contraceptives, that does not mean it is morally acceptable. In my reckoning, that is exactly what we should expect, namely, the majority more often gets it wrong than right. The Church would be a disaster if she were a democracy.

Have you ever heard of the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule? It is named for Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian sociologist and economist. Put simply, in large crowds of people, the Pareto principle states that 20% of the people will accomplish 80% of the work. Just look at our parish. At Mass on any given Sunday roughly 20-30% of our registered parishioners come to Mass, while almost 80% stay home.

On the financial side, about 20% of the parishioners give 80% of all the donations that we receive. Once again, like in the gospel about the blind man, it is the minority who see with eyes of faith who Jesus is and what it entails to follow him. The majority is simply stumbling along in the dark. Or as Jesus predicted in Mt 15:14, “If a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall in the ditch.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Need for Speed

Letting the liturgy teach us how to wait for Christmas

11/14/2024

LK 17:20-25  Asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus said in reply, “The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’ For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.” Then he said to his disciples, “The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. There will be those who will say to you, ‘Look, there he is,’ or ‘Look, here he is.’ Do not go off, do not run in pursuit. For just as lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must suffer greatly and be rejected by this generation.”

Have you noticed that we have entered into a time of waiting and anticipation? It seems every year the Christmas shopping season creeps up earlier and earlier. "Black Friday” – the day after Thanksgiving – used to be the official start of the Christmas season. But already we see Christmas shopping commercials, people have decorated their homes with Christmas lights, and Mr. and Mrs. Santa have already bought and hidden presents.

But I believe the reason the season of waiting creeps up earlier and earlier is because we are a culture that doesn’t like to wait. We want instant gratification. The sooner the better, we say. Like Tom Cruise said in the movie “Top Gun” – “I feel the need, the need for speed.”

In the gospel today, Jesus instructs his disciples about the need (not for speed, but) to wait patiently and anticipate the coming of the Kingdom of God. But the Lord also teaches them that the coming of the Kingdom will not be flashy or awe-inspiring. Rather, it will be subtle, quiet, and in fact, the Kingdom was already in their midst.

So he says: “The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’ For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.” In other words, to notice the Kingdom requires the eyes of faith and a spirit of prayer. Only then will you see its presence and power.

One way we can effectively don these eyes of faith and enter more deeply into the spirit of prayer is to pay close attention to the lessons of the liturgy, or the Eucharist. In other words, the Scriptures and sacraments (especially Mass) are specifically geared to getting us ready for the coming of the Kingdom of God.

For example, we are in week 32 of 34 weeks until the end of the liturgical calendar. Just like there is a December 31 to mark the end of the secular calendar, so we have week 34 to mark the end of the liturgical calendar.

And if we pay close attention to the readings and prayers of the Mass in these final weeks of the year, you will hear notes of the end of the world and the coming of Christ's Kingdom. After all, Jesus said to Pilate, "My Kingdom is not of this world.' In other words, one way the liturgy helps us prepare for Christmas is to lift our eyes from this world to the next, because one day this world will end.

Another way the liturgy teaches us how to wait patiently and anticipate the coming of Christ and his Kingdom is by telling us it's not Christmas yet! As much as we hate to wait and like Cruise we "feel the need, the need for speed,” the Church’s liturgy invites us to cool our jets and hold our horses. How so? Well, we first immerse ourselves in Advent for 4 weeks before we celebrate Christmas.

In fact, the modern culture gets the Christmas season exactly wrong. First comes Advent for 4 weeks, and after December 25 we celebrate Christmas for several weeks. But modern Americans celebrate Christmas – with lights, parties and gifts – before December 25, and then take down everything festive on December 26. But December 26 is exactly when the Christmas seasons finally begins! But for most Americans that’s when the Christmas season ends.

My friends, can you see how much we need the liturgy to teach us, like Jesus taught his apostles, that the Kingdom of God is among us, but we cannot perceive its power and presence without eyes of faith and a profound spirit of prayer? There will indeed be people saying, “There it is!” or “Here it is!” just like people say today, “Look, it’s Christmas time!”

But they will be gravely mistaken. What our culture celebrates as “Christmas” is only the shell of the true season, just the external trappings and fineries but no spiritual soul or supernatural substance. It is a season that has lost its true spirit. And only the liturgy can help us remember the real reason for the season, namely, Jesus. He is the Kingdom of God in person.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Apologia Pro Vita Sua

An explanation for why I decided to become a priest

11/13/2024

I want to share with you the reason I decided to become a priest. I like to joke it was because I could not find a beautiful Catholic girl to marry me and have ten children. But becoming a priest not only sounds radical, but even a little ridiculous. Why would any healthy, red-blooded, virile young man choose a life of celibacy,  church service, and a salary slightly above the poverty line?

In other words, I want to present what St. John Henry Newman titled his autobiography, an “apologia pro vita sua,” meaning a defense of one’s life.  Just like he took pains to justify his conversion from an Anglican to a Roman Catholic, so I want to take a minute to explain why I chose celibacy over marriage, poverty over affluence, taking orders instead of taking charge, in a word, the priesthood.

My final decision to be ordained happened in three major steps, each step marked by a blinding insight. I will present them as three Acts of a play. The first step or insight – or Act I – occurred when I was just seven years old, and it was a traumatic experience. Incidentally, I believe many people find their life purpose in some trauma, trial, or tribulation. Tragedy can pry open our eyes to our purpose in life.

When I was seven, my family left India and moved to the United States. That may sound like a dream-come-true for many immigrants, but not for me. I felt like overnight I had lost everything: my friends, my food, my music, my language, my neighborhood, in short, everything I loved as a little boy. It was “the end of the world as I knew it” to paraphrase the rock band, R.E.M.

But hidden within every trauma or tragedy lies a golden seed

of grace. And in my case this golden grace was the awareness that in the end we lose everything that we love, that is, when we die. Think about it: each one of you will experience what I did as a seven year-old at the moment of death – “the end of the world as we know it.” But there is one Thing we will never lose even after death, namely, God.

In other words, that childhood trauma taught me a profound truth – perhaps it is the most profound truth of all – that all things are passing and eventually expire. Nothing is self-sustaining forever. And there is only One who is always self-sustaining, that is, God. It is like that bumper-sticker I saw once that said, “There is a God, and you ain’t him.” Only One is eternal: everything else – and everyone else – has an expiration date.

Okay, so how did this insight about the Eternal versus the expiring help me choose the priesthood? In high school I began asking myself what I wanted to do when I grew up. Have you ever asked yourself that question? But even as a teenager, I noticed two surprising things. First, when I did something for others, I felt a deeper joy than when I received something for myself.

For instance, one Christmas while in eighth grade, I made straight A’s on my report card (no small miracle). I did not really care about grades, and I did that as a gift for my parents (who cared far more). I will never forget the beaming smiles on my parents’ faces, and I can still feel that joy today. That same Christmas I received a bike as a present. It was the fastest bike on the street so I named it “Flash”. I felt happy when I received that bike, too, but that happiness is long gone.

Now, even though both giving and receiving made me happy, the former (giving) was not only quantitatively better, it was qualitatively better. That is, giving caused not only more happiness; it produced happiness on another level, namely, enduring happiness. And I was far more interested in enduring happiness (indeed, Eternal happiness) than happiness with an expiration date.

Another low-hanging fruit of truth I picked in high school was that if “giving is more blessed than receiving” (Acts 20:35), then what was the best way to give, or to help others? I discovered that there are two ways to help people. You can give people food, shelter, and clothing and thereby care for their physical or material needs.

Or, you can provide for their spiritual needs, like helping them know God, teaching them how to read the Bible, praying for others, making sacrifices for them, etc. Now, let me ask you: which of these two needs lasts longer? Obviously, the spiritual needs far outweigh the material needs. And who takes care of those eternal needs? Bingo: priests do.

By the way, did you catch how I decided to become a priest? I was more interested in the Eternal than in the expiring. And priests deal with Eternity not with the earthly. You see, my heart and head had been pre-programed – traumatized back when I was 7! – to ask precisely these questions. My classmates, who had no such experiences, went about life as normal kids do, like most of you, chasing girls and guns and gold.

In other words, when I first heard God’s call when I was seven I discovered the difference between what is eternal and what expires. Years later I was able to take my first step toward the priesthood when I applied that insight to what I should do with my life. That is, God had called me to be a priest long before I even knew there was such things as priests. End of Act I.

***

My second step toward priesthood – Act II – came with a second blinding insight that may seem obvious at first, namely, seeking God’s will rather than our own will. Why is this second step so important? Well, think about how we make major life decisions: choose a career path, decide who to marry, pick where to raise a family, etc.

We usually try to figure out what we really want. And once I know what I want, end of story. What else is there? I tell young people who might be thinking about the priesthood: The worst question you can ask yourself is, “Do I want to be a priest?” Rather, ask yourself, “Does God want me to be a priest?” Can you hear the difference between those two questions?

How differently we might approach questions about marriage, career, where to raise a family if our first question was always: “Does God want me to marry this person, pursue this career, live in this community?” Hispanics use this great phrase that keeps God’s will primary and paramount, saying: “Primero Dios”, meaning, “God’s will first.” Or, as we say in the South: “God willing and the creek don’t rise.”

Even with a little thought, we can see how often God’s will and our wills clash and conflict. For example, God wants us to get up when the alarm rings the first time, but we want to be lazy and sleep in. God wants me to have only two olives in my martini, but I want to have three martinis. God wants us to go to Mass every Sunday, but we would rather watch football on Sundays. Yeah, my will and God’s will are not the same; they’re not even close.

C. S. Lewis dramatically described this stark contrast of wills in his book The Great Divorce. He wrote: “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God: ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell, choose it.” By the way, maybe that is why a baby is born with clenched fists – clutching tightly to his own will – while an old man, after a life-time of learning to let go, dies with his hands open.

What does all this have to do with being a priest? A few years before ordination I attended a retreat in Braintree, Massachusetts given by priests of Opus Dei. One elderly priest, who only gave one brief talk, made a passing remark that I have never forgotten. He explained that during seminary formation a young man tries to hear God’s voice calling him. At best, though, he is only guessing. Maybe he’s only hearing his own voice in his head.

On the day of his ordination, however, he hears God’s voice with his own ears. How so? Well, the old priest said that the ordaining bishop solemnly states: “Relying on the help of God and our Savior Jesus Christ, we choose these, our brothers, for the Order of Priesthood.” In other words, when he uses that plural pronoun “we” (even though he’s a single man), he speaks not on his own behalf but as a successor of the Apostles. And the Apostles speak for Christ.

That is, a man is becoming a priest not because he thinks it’s a good idea, but because God thinks it’s a good idea. A young man has finally heard with his own ears what he had hoped and believed for years. God has chosen him for the “Order of Priesthood.” Primero Dios, indeed. From that marvelous moment onward, all doubts, fears, anxieties, uncertainties, insecurities, etc. are laid to rest in a priest’s heart because knows he is doing God’s will, and not his own will. End of Act II.

***

The third and last step of my discernment – Act III – came with the stunning insight called hindsight. Maybe you have heard the old adage “hindsight is twenty-twenty.” That is, after we go through an experience – say high school or college – and reflect back on it, we see with crystal clarity what we should have done at the time. I always wanted to play football in high school, but my parents said, “We don’t need any more medical bills.”

Stephen Covey, believed hindsight was one of his seven habits of highly effective people. He explained: “To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you are going so that you can better understand where you are now and so the steps you take are always in the right direction…if the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster.”

In my third step I will take Covey’s ladder of life and lean it against two walls. That is, I will try to see myself as two different eighty year-old men. In one scenario, I will be a business man; in the other scenario, I will be a priest. After picturing myself as these two octogenarians, I will ask myself: “If you had the chance to live your life over again, John, is this is the way you would have lived it?”

Now, how will I know if my life ladder is leaning against the right 80-year-old wall? My heart will tell me. That is, either my eighty year-old heart will beat with peace and joy because I had lived my best life. Or, my heart will feel a twinge of regret or sadness because my life ladder was leaning against the wrong wall. I will wish I could live my life over and do something different. Think of Ebenezer Scrooge in the movie “A Christmas Carol.”

My first wall, therefore, will be Mr. John Antony the businessman. I picture a future Thanksgiving supper with my large family (10 kids!). Everyone saunters to the front yard after dinner to enjoy the evening. Meanwhile I sit on the front porch swing and I reach over to hold the hand of my wife of fifty years, Sandra Bullock. Hey, my wall, my bricks.

As Sandra and I swing slowly, I muse over my life. I recall how I changed college majors from philosophy to finance. I remember landing my first job in the corporate office of an international retailer. I climbed the company ladder and became CEO. I remember that blessed business trip to California and meeting Sandra at a restaurant.

Naturally, she fell head-over-heels in love with me. Images of marriage, children, vacations, new homes, graduations, walking daughters down the aisle, teaching grandchildren to fish, all flash before my eyes now moistening with tears. Then, suddenly I realize I am still swinging on the front porch with Sandra at my side.

Then I question my octogenarian self: “If you could live this life over again, John, is this what you would do?” And now I can feel in my heart what St. Augustine called “restlessness.” That is, in spite of how wonderful this life had been, I still feel sadness and regret. That is, I can tell the ladder of my life is leaning against the wrong wall.

Now I take my ladder and lean it against the wall of “Fr. John Antony”. Oh, why don’t we say “Monsignor”? Heck, why not “Bishop”? Let’s just make it “Archbishop”! My wall, my bricks. Now, I see myself as an 80-year-old archbishop serving as a chaplain for a monastery of Carmelite nuns. One warm afternoon I step outside to walk and pray the rosary, the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful and Glorious mysteries.

But beautifully the rosary can also help me reflect on my own life. For example, I recall the luminous days of seminary studies full of philosophy and theology, studying saints and scholars of the past. I remember the joyful day of my ordination. And I affectionately recall the parishes I served, the babies I baptized, the couples I married, the first Communions I distributed.

How can I forget the sorrowful moments? Counseling struggling couples, comforting grieving families at a funeral, anointing the sick in the hospital or in hospice. And then of course, the glorious event of the call to become a bishop, a successor of the Apostles. St. Paul taught his protégé, St. Timothy: “This saying is sure: If anyone aspires to bishop, he desires a noble task” (1 Tm 3:1).

Then I ask this pious prelate: “If you had a chance to live your life over, John, is this the life you would choose?” Now if I have successfully slipped my feet into the shoes of this old archbishop, I can feel my heart responding with what St. Augustine called “rest”, that is, contentment, peace, joy rather than restlessness or regret. My life ladder is leaning against the right 80-year-old-wall.

I began this three Act play with the joke that I decided to become a priest because I could not find some beautiful girl to marry me and have ten kids. Well, in my imagination (and in my heart) I did meet a beautiful woman (Sandra Bullock), I married her, and we also had ten kids together. And what did I learn? I would still choose the priesthood. End of Act III.

Cracks in Christendom

Understanding Church history and our place in it

11/12/2024

John 17:20-26 Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said: "Holy Father, I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me. Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world also does not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me. I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them."

Have I ever shared with you Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s brilliant analysis of the 2,000 years of Church history? It summarizes and synthesizes the sprawling record of the Church’s life on earth so simply and elegantly I could never forget it. And I mention it today so we can better understand the life and ministry of St. Josaphat, the saint whose feast we celebrate today.

But more importantly, it may give us an insight into the work of the Holy Spirit in building up the Church, the Body of Christ for 2,000 years plus. But wait, there’s more! Once we see how the Holy Spirit worked in St. Josaphat at a particular juncture of our Christian family story, we can also perceive what the Holy Spirit is doing with each of us today.

Archbishop Sheen said that roughly every 500 years there was a major loss to the unity of the Church. First, though, imagine the Church having spread all over the world by the missionary zeal of the 12 apostles. For example, St. Thomas came all the way to my home country of India. St. Mark ventured into Africa. And St. Paul, according to Rm 15:24, had every intention to go to Spain.

In a true sense, the apostles’ evangelistic explosion fulfilled Jesus’ missionary mandate at the end of Matthew 28. And they lived Ps 19:4 to the core: ‘Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” By the year 100, when the last apostle died, therefore, Christianity had reached the four corners of the earth and stage of salvation history was set.

But then the devil set to work to undo the work of the Holy Spirit with the Bride of Christ. Like the poet John Donne wrote pointedly when he had marriage problems: “John Donne, Anne Done, Undone.” In the year 570 in the obscure dessert of Arabia Mohammed was born in Mecca.

His new religion would catch on like a California wildfire all across Africa and Arabia. And Christians were scorched by the conflagration and denied Christ in order to worship the god of Mohammed, Allah. If Rome is the center of Christendom, then the Christians to the south of Rome shattered the unity of the Church

By the year 1000 tensions between Rome and Constantinople to the East (modern-day Istanbul) had grown rife and to the breaking point. In the year 1054 the patriarch of Constantinople and the pope in Rome mutually excommunicated each other. And that break of the East gave birth to the Orthodox Churches. You may have seen bumper stickers with the three letters “OCA”. That stands for Orthodox Church of America, which came into existence in 104, when Christians to the east of Rome shattered the unity of Christ’s flock.

The year 1500 would see the arrival of the reformer Martin Luther, who launched the Protestant Reformation in Europe. Beginning in Germany, one European country after another started to question, to doubt, and then to reject the authority of the pope in Rome. That crack in unity led to a revision of understanding of Scriptures and sacraments are essential to salvation. And as you know, most of Europe lies to the north of Rome. And by the end of another 500 years, there was another crack in Christendom.

And at this 500 year juncture St. Josaphat arrives on the scene, born in 1580. He grew up in present day Ukraine and Poland, and his ardent desire was to repair the cracks in Christendom. Josaphat was convinced that Jesus’ desire was exactly expressed in the gospel we read from John 17.

Jesus prayed at the Last Supper: “Holy Father, I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you Father are in me and I in you…” In other words, unity is one of the hallmarks of the true Church, and it is incumbent on every Christian to maintain that oneness with the visible sign of unity, namely, the pope in Rome.

And so the ministry and martyrdom of St. Josaphat was to bring the Orthodox Christians in Ukraine and Poland back to Rome, and become Roman Catholics faithful to St. Peter and his successors. This is how the Holy Spirit was working through St. Josaphat to repair the cracks in Christendom.

So what does all this mean for you and me today? Well, for one thing we also stand at another 500 year juncture of Church history in 2024. Could we be witnessing a large-scale defection of the West from Rome? Do you hear Catholics questioning the pope, doubting his leadership, and maybe even wanting to break away?

The more things change, the more they stay the same. The best predictor of the future is often the past. Can you see how the pattern of 500 years is about to repeat itself? In other words, our work today is the same as Josaphat’s work in 1580, namely, maintain the unity of the Church under the headship of the pope in Rome.

An ancient Latin maxim perfectly summarized this Christian perspective, “Ubi Petrus, ibi ecclesia,” meaning, “Where there is Peter, there is the Church.” And the opposite is also chillingly true: “Where Peter is not, the Church is not.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!

A Local Call

Learning to associate with the poor and lowly

11/10/2024

Mk 12:38-44 or 12:41-44 In the course of his teaching Jesus said to the crowds, "Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes and accept greetings in the marketplaces, seats of honor in synagogues, and places of honor at banquets. They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext recite lengthy prayers.  They will receive a very severe condemnation." He sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, "Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood."

I want to share with you a little joke I came across last week. It goes: The very well-heeled Mr. Smythe was one to visit many a church, leaving a donation at each. One day, he stopped at this very posh parish, and noticed a gold telephone on the desk. When he asked what it was, he was told it was a direct line to heaven.

Mr Smythe was fascinated and asked if he could use the phone. He was informed that indeed he could, but this phone call would require a donation of $50,000. So, he wrote the check and called heaven. A week later, Mr. Smythe was in another town and stopped in to visit a very poor parish (like Immaculate Conception).

And he noticed another gold telephone there on the desk as well. He inquired if this was another line to heaven, and was told that indeed it was. Again, he asked if he could use it and was told he was welcome to do so. But the attendant asked if he could leave a donation of 50 cents. Mr. Smythe was shocked, said, “50 cents?!” When I used the same telephone at another church, it cost me 50 thousand dollars!” The man explained: “Yes sir, we know. But from here’s it’s a local call.”

In the gospel today Jesus also teaches how the poor have a direct line to God because they are very close to him. Our Lord notices and applauds the generosity of a poor widow who gives from her need (probably 50 cents) and contrasts her with the wealthy who give from their surplus (probably $50,000). Who do you think Jesus was closer to? In other words, her prayers to heaven would have been like using that 50 cent gold phone because she was very close to Jesus’ heart, which is what heaven is. The prayers of the poor are always “a local call.”

But let me add an important distinction here to avoid any over-simplification or misunderstanding. I do not believe Jesus is condemning wealth and championing poverty absolutely. He is not saying all Christians must be poor. Rather, he is cautioning against excessive attachment to worldly goods that stifles or squelches our desire for spiritual goods.

After all St. Paul taught his protégé Timothy, “The love of money is the root of all evil.” The great Apostle did not say “money itself is the root of all evil,” but rather, “the love of money is evil.” Excessive love of money can turn the American dream into a Christian’s nightmare. If we mainly love money, prayer will always feel like a long-distance call to heaven.

Here are some practical ways we can be detached from material things and more attached to spiritual things. I have a priest-friend who, when he receives a gift of some sort – socks, shoes, shirts, golf clubs, etc. – always gives away something similar that he already owns. That way, he never has to do spring cleaning because he’s spring cleaning all year long!

Have you ever watched the television show called “Hoarders”? The show features people who are compulsive and cannot stop buying things and then fill their homes to the point that they can barely live in them. My priest-friend lives modestly and makes local calls to heaven when he prays. Hoarders, on the other hand, cannot even find their phones because they’re buried under their belongings.

A second way to develop this detachment is to read Pope Francis’ newest encyclical called “Dilexit Nos,” meaning “He loved us.” The pope speaks movingly about how we can overcome materialism and consumerism by living at the level of the heart instead of the pocketbook. He shared this personal story: “For the carnival, when we were children my grandmother would make a pastry using a very thin batter.

“When she dropped the strips of batter into the oil, they would expand, but then, when we bit into them, they were empty inside. In the dialect we spoke, these cookies were called ‘lies’…My grandmother explained why: ‘Like lies, they look big, but are empty inside; they are false, unreal” (DN, 7). In other words, the poor – which the pope was growing up – worry more about what’s on the inside (the heart), than what’s on the outside (clothes, cars, and computers). And when your heart is rich – even if you are dirt poor – prayer feels like a local call to heaven.

And a third way to practice detachment is when you are dating. Don’t always fall in love with the guy with the flashy car, or the million dollar smile or the sexy abs. Or as Taylor Swift put it: “The fella over there with the hella good hair.” Instead, look for the guy with character, with a conscience, and with Christian faith. It’s doesn’t matter if he’s rich or poor; what matters is the heart.

I tell young couples that I prepare for marriage: “The worst thing that can happen to you on your wedding day is you marry a stranger.” That is why so many celebrity weddings crash and burn after a few years. They marry money. On the other hand, the best thing that can happen on your wedding day is you look at each other and say: “Honey, I know you’re not the knight in shining armor. But I still want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

In other words, the smart thing is to marry someone who is poor. Why? Because then you know someone is marrying you for your love, and not for your money. And what’s more: you’ll be marrying someone who can help you make a local call to heaven because they probably only have about 50 cents.

Praised be Jesus Christ!