Conscience is not God

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=14336

Father Roy Bourgeois, a Maryknoll priest who participated in the attempted ordination of a woman to the priesthood, has been told by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to renounce his support for women’s ordination or be excommunicated. The priest has affirmed he will make no such renunciation.

“At the same time, I cannot not do what I am doing. I must follow my God I must follow my conscience.

“I do believe that good will come from this.”

Father B's malformed conscience is his god. No calling is confirmed simply by a person's feelings, even among men who believe they are called. We are not autonomous if we are in Christ. A calling is discerned with, and not apart from the Church (which is inseparable from Christ, the head of the body). Yes, good will come, but in a form contrary to the thinking of Fr. B. The consistent truth and teaching of the Church will be more clearly defined and upheld. As Saint Paul said, "...there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized." (1Co 11:19)

What about Babel?

     Despite its brevity, the story of the Tower of Babel stands as a noteworthy bridge between pre-history and history. At first glance, we might conclude that the author of this story was simply trying to provide a rudimentary explanation as to why there is a multiplicity of languages. Though that may be true, such a superficial survey from a modern mindset does not do justice to this passage, which God, in His eternal wisdom, placed in the Bible for our benefit.
     As with any passage of Scripture, context is one key to a deeper understanding. In relation to what precedes it, Babel is the last episode of biblical prehistory characterized by mankind’s futile attempts to reach heaven and divinity by its own efforts. In relation to what follows, it provides a concluding contrast which makes what seems to be another boring genealogy even more interesting and significant. In relation to the time it was written, Babel is a final counter-cultural criticism of the reigning empire at that time in Israel’s history -- Babylon.
     Context also helps us to determine what the author, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is trying to reveal to us. Discovering that intention requires that we know what type of literature we are reading. In this case, we are reading a religious narrative that expresses religious truth and history in a symbolic and figurative manner.
     In the first 11 chapters of Genesis we journey through hundreds of years, from the Creation to the call of Abraham. With the Fall of Man in Genesis 3, a cycle of sin, punishment, and mercy demonstrating the wickedness of mankind begins. The narrative of Babel continues in that cycle. Man, created good by God, but deceived by the serpent, listened to his own desires and reached out to become like God in his own way, not according to God’s design. God justly punishes Adam and Eve, but is merciful. Then Cain kills his brother, Abel, and though God punishes Cain, God spares his life. There is also the Flood account, describing how man had become so wicked that God opts for a re-creation of the earth and a new beginning for mankind. Again, God punishes justly, but is merciful to the righteous Noah and his family.
     This short review brings us to the Tower of Babel. First, the story shows us that even after the flood, man is still sinful and full of pride. Once more, man is reaching out for divinity. This time a great number of people work as one to build a tower that will reach to the heavens. They think this is a great and mighty work, but the author exposes exactly how insignificant it is to the eternal God, who has to come down from the heavens just to take a look at it. Note the satire: man is laboring so hard just to reach heaven, and the Lord simply “came down” to man without any effort at all. Upon seeing the tower God wonders if there can be any end to their pride and sinfulness.
     So, what’s a good God to do with all these people who just keep sinning? There is a clue in this passage to help answer this question: Their purpose for building the tower was to make a name for themselves. In Hebrew, the word for name is shem, so let’s say that they were trying to make a shem for themselves. Looking ahead to the genealogy that follows, we read that Abraham was a descendent of Shem, the son of Noah, and God says to Abraham, “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name [shem] great.” Here we have crossed the bridge and we are standing at the beginning of “salvation history”, the history of our salvation wrought by a loving God.
     The final twist in this passage is that Babel refers to the Babylonians. During the author’s time, Babylon was the strongest kingdom of the world and the foremost oppressor of Israel. He portrays the Babylonians as arrogant, self-important, and ignorant heathens who trust in themselves and make plans without a thought of the Lord God. The just punishment for such a people is confusion and dispersion. Their great name and great kingdom passes away and will be forgotten.
     Many people today are still caught up with being important. They want to be noticed, to leave a legacy, to “make a name for themselves”. They do not care about God plans. They have agendas of their own. Sadly, even in the Church people are eager to establish a reputation for themselves and to bring their own ideas to fruition.
     The Babel account offers an enlightening contrast. In his pride, man will try to make a great name for himself and fail over and over again, but only in his humility before his God and in submission to God’s divine plan will man’s name be made great. What is more, it is GOD alone who can make a great name for man. As we know, he went so far as to truly descend from heaven and be the One Man, Jesus Christ, who could ascend to heaven and make our own ascent possible.
     Where are you in relation to the Tower of Babel? Are you still trying to build a name for yourself or are you truly allowing God to make a name for you? Men and women will pass away and so will their greatness. If we wish our human efforts to be of any eternal value, they must be acts done for God, in Christ and through the Holy Spirit. His legacy is our legacy if we follow His plan in faith as our father Abraham did at the beginning of salvation history.

A Poem

I created this poem as I came back from the library today.

    I walked.
    Maple seeds
    soaked on the asphalt.

    They talked.
    Hood drawn,
    I saw their sneakers.

    Rain fell.
    Black shoes
    wet from the drops.

    I walked.
    Hood drawn,
    wet from the drops.

Humbling the Pope

     I was happy to be one of the 45-50,000 people who attended a mass with Pope Benedict XVI during his visit in April. I'd love to tell you all about it, but others have already done so. My comments here will be limited to a faux pas on my part.
     Oft you may hear people shouting "Viva il Papa!" during an apostolic visit such as this one. As you may be able to guess, it's Italian for "Long live the Pope." Now, you might think that a man who has studied languages, especially Latin and Spanish, would have no trouble repeating said exclamation. Caught up in the joy of the celebration I cheered, "Viva la papa!" It didn't really sound right to me, but as an admitted fan, I waved my little white and yellow flag and shouted it again anyway. "Viva la papa!"
     Sounds similar, right? What's the difference anyway? one vowel, right? It's meaningless in Italian, but when I actually took a moment to stop and think, I realized I had just called the pope a potato in Spanish.
     I'm sure it's not the first time he's heard it. "Long live the potato...er...pope!"

Christ the King

    Who wants to be a human? Raise your hand. Anybody? In this day and age, being human is often portrayed as something negative. Humans destroy the environment, they use and abuse those less fortunate than themselves, they are intolerant, greedy, lazy, indifferent, and so on. In many cases all these accusations may be true, but today I want to I want to introduce you to One who, regardless of the indictments, wanted to be human. The One who reveals the intrinsic greatness of humanity and what being human really means.
    The Feast of Christ the King is the last Sunday of our liturgical year. On that day we come to the end, our last week before Advent; and so, we read Jesus’ description of his second coming in the Gospel: "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” Those of us who have been Catholic a long time may be very familiar with this passage, but many may not know why Christ chose the words “Son of Man” to refer to Himself.
    Going back to a time which was centuries before Christ came, we read these words in chapter seven from the book of the prophet Daniel:

9 As I watched, Thrones were set up and the Ancient One took his throne… 10…Thousands upon thousands were ministering to him, and myriads upon myriads attended him. The court was convened, and the books were opened… 13…I saw One like a son of man coming, on the clouds of heaven; When he reached the Ancient One and was presented before him, 14 He received dominion, glory, and kingship; nations and peoples of every language serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away, his kingship shall not be destroyed.

Can there be any doubt that Christ was directing those who heard Him back to this prophecy? We see God the Father, the “Ancient One”, taking His throne. We see Christ who is fully God and fully man, and therefore “One like a son of man” receiving a kingdom from the Father. Today, Christ is saying that He will be the one to fulfill the words of Daniel. The everlasting kingdom is His to establish, and when He comes again, the court will be convened and the books opened. The sheep will be separated from the goats, the righteous from the unrighteous. As God told Isaiah, “I will judge between one sheep and another, between rams and goats.”
    Judgment is often depicted in negative terms, and judges are usually something we want to avoid, but we must refrain from drawing a one-sided picture of judges and, by extension, of Jesus Christ, who is the Supreme Judge. Since He is God, we may be inclined to think of Christ as distant, uncompassionate, or even unsympathetic to our circumstances as human persons. Ignore that inclination and remember His title, Son of Man. As the book of Hebrews tells us, “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin.” Understand, though, this does not mean that Christ simply excuses us. Yes, His grace is given freely, but it is not forced upon us. In the next verse, Hebrews states that we must choose to “approach the throne of grace to receive mercy”. Such a statement presumes that we have a relationship with our high priest and judge, Jesus Christ. Which one of us only needs to approach Him once a year? How many of us can boast of only a few sins or weaknesses? Are they not evident to us every day? Then, we must approach the Son of Man every day.
    Relationship, then, is an integral component to the judgment of Christ. He reveals this to us when He says “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did [or did not do] for these least brothers of mine, you did [or did not do] for me.” With those words, Christ, as the Son of Man, explicitly identifies Himself with every human being, but He names the poor, the sick, and the prisoners because all too often the world sees them as less human or less than human. The Lord utterly rejects such a notion and tells us exactly how much dignity they truly have by equating what we do to them with what we do to Him. He elevates them to their rightful place as men and women created in the image and likeness of God who deserve to be treated with a dignity equal to His own humanity. Even today, the inherent dignity of people is under attack. We, as followers of Christ, must continue to maintain the dignity of the less fortunate and condemn acts that are contrary to the dignity of all humanity: euthanasia, abortion, slavery, religious bigotry, classism, racism, unjust wages and working conditions, penalties that are disproportionate to the crime, and the like.
    If we are indifferent toward these sins and we do not speak out, what does it say about the quality of our relationship with Christ? If we do not sympathize with Christ who sees His image in the lowliest among us are we truly His disciples? Speaking out and acts of sympathy, however, cannot stand on their own in the face of judgment. Our good deeds cannot be an end in themselves. They do not originate from our own good intentions and they do not serve to simply make us feel good about ourselves. All our good deeds are derived from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Yes, we accomplish them. Yes, we receive the merit that is due to us according to the promises of God; yet, we owe the glory for such deeds to God who not only inspired them, but gives us the grace to achieve them.
    So what can endure the judgment of God if not good deeds? Love. The only reason our good deeds have any value is because they are conceived by love and are done in love. We know that God is love. As Father, Son and Holy Spirit, God is an eternal exchange of love. He did not need us or the rest of creation to make Himself complete; nonetheless, in an act of pure and gracious love He created us in His own image. His image makes us unique among all creation because it enables us to live in a loving relationship with God and one another. There is no greater reason for our existence and no more perfect way to become human.
    Sadly, as you know, sin ruptured the love relationship we had with God. Our first parents were separated from His presence and would be unable to realize the ultimate communion He intended to share with them in the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. Defiled, there was nothing man could do in and of himself to earn God’s favor; and so God, in the second person of the Blessed Trinity said, “I want to be human” (in a manner of speaking). As the Son of Man, Christ provided more than just the perfect example of what it means to be human, in another act of supreme love He became our salvation through His passion, death, and resurrection. As an extension of His loving act, Christ provided us with His Church and the Sacraments, which are our means of personally encountering that love in our own time and space. Through baptism we have become members of Christ’s body the Church and now we, too, are an integral part of the eternal act of His saving love offered to the whole world.
    Ultimately, this gospel demonstrates that we must remain in love if we wish to be saved. When we act in love toward others, toward the poor, the sick, the prisoner, we are not only acting as Christ, we encounter Christ. The more we love, the more we become like Christ who is love. The more like Christ we are, the more authentically human we become.
    So who wants to be human? I can’t think of anything else I would rather be.