Gregorian Chant

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time - A

2011-08-19T08:50:00.002-04:00

Lately, I have taken an interest in one of the masterworks of the famous and prolific English writer and Catholic convert, G.K. Chesterton: a book entitled, The Everlasting Man. Another well-known, English writer, C. S. Lewis credited The Everlasting Man with "baptising" his intellect, calling it "the [very] best popular defence of the full Christian position I know”. Lewis also cited it in a list of 10 books that "most shaped his vocational attitude and philosophy of life". In this book, Chesterton states: “The world owes God to the Jews.” The uniqueness of the declaration made me pause. “The world owes God to the Jews.” I continued reading and realized how evident and accurate this conclusion was; how profound and simple it was at the same time.

Popular theories on the development of worship would have us believe that monotheism, or belief in one true God, was a late development in humanity only after centuries of the worship of many Gods, known as polytheism. To the contrary, we believe that the human understanding of God was originally monotheistic and that from the beginning, we were created in a relationship with the One True God. Over time, and as a consequence of our fallen human nature, faith in this God was abandoned for the worship of created things. From this disordered type of worship, elaborate forms of polytheism grew and prevailed throughout human civilization everywhere, except in one place and among one people: in Israel, among the Jews.

Yet, Faith in the One True God did not originate with the Jews. Beginning with Abraham, God chose a people to be His People in order to preserve what was once lost among a mass of confused mythology. The Jews were given the Laws of God at the hand of the prophet Moses. By these laws, God charged His people to stand out among the other nations. To be holy and set apart for him alone and not to profane their religion by mingling their faith with the pagan practices of their neighbors; so that, through their obedience, the other nations would come to know who God was. And, though you and I might think parts of the Mosaic law are strict and strange, we can see that, at the very least, these laws set them apart from the polytheistic cultures that surrounded them. They served to remind the Jews that they were to be a sign, an emblem, a contrast that was significant enough to preserve the Faith in the One God, creator of heaven and earth in a world that had long ago abandoned it.

They would obey this law even to the point of death, because of the obedience of faith to which God called them. And so, for centuries, the Jews carried Faith in One God amidst the threats of polytheism, leading Chesterton to the conclusion that “the world owes God to the Jews.”

Turning to today’s Gospel reading from chapter 15 of Matthew, we meet Jesus at a particular time of in the history of the Jewish religion. As usual, we see Jesus challenging the understanding of the Jews of Jesus’ day; for the Jews had developed their religion to the point of hating their non-Jewish neighbors, whom they called “Gentiles”. Today, Jesus reminds the Jews that their separation from the Gentiles was not to develop into hatred and that the law was never meant to lead to the mistreatment of the stranger; that their obedience to the law was intended to lead the Gentiles to know God and to desire a relationship with God.

In the account of the Canaanite woman, Jesus is also testing the faith of the Canaanite woman. I would even say he is eager to play the role of the typical Jew so that his disciples can see how great a hunger the Gentiles have to know the one True God and to demonstrate how great a Gentile’s faith can be in contrast to many Jews. Why else would he have led them into the Gentile territory of Tyre and Sidon? It would be absurd to conclude that he was simply offending a Canaanite woman.

Jesus is telling the truth when he says that “[He] was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” At least, this was his first and primary mission, because this is what God promised the Jews, but Jesus is always listening to the Father, who also promised to the Gentiles what we read from Isaiah:

The foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, becoming his servants-
all who keep the sabbath free from profanation and hold to my covenant,
them I will bring to my holy mountain and make joyful in my house of prayer;
a house of prayer for all peoples.

In context, the purpose of the Father becomes clear: At the end of this chapter, we read about the feeding of the 4000 IN GENTILE Territory. Just one chapter before this, Jesus was feeding 5000 in Jewish territory. Clearly, Matthew marks a turning point and a teaching point in Jesus ministry.

Saint Paul attempts to capture the significance of Jesus actions in our second reading from the book of Romans, chapter 11. He speaks of the disobedience of the Jews which allowed the Gentiles to be united to the believing Jews, through faith in Jesus Christ, into one body, the Church. In some verses of this chapter which we did not read, he explains that “some of the branches were broken off [meaning the disobedient Jews], and you, a wild olive shoot [the Gentiles], were grafted in their place and have come to share in the rich root of the olive tree [Israel]…. They were broken off because of unbelief, but you are there because of faith.”

The teachings of the apostle are clear: The Church is the new Israel, and we have an obligation to continue what God began with the Israelites. In our modern times, we face something not unlike the situation of the ancient Jews, but instead of polytheism, the new Israel is threatened by any number of competing philosophies demanding equal validity with the gospel of our Lord.

Our modern culture suffers from the delusion that all philosophies (worldviews, beliefs) are equally valid because every person is of equal dignity. Now, although we can agree that every human person has equal dignity, we cannot agree that all philosophies are of equal worth, nor can we conclude that they are equally correct, especially if they are contradictory. Doing so would be contrary to reason.

Others may argue that we are all equally fallen in regard to our human nature, and so we can only conclude that all human philosophies are equally invalid, meaning that no one has any claim on the truth. This conclusion is equally unreasonable and ultimately leads to despair.

The only hopeful answer is the one we started with: that God chose to reveal Divine Truth to his people despite their sinful, fallen nature, in order that all may know Him and have a foundation for determining what is right and wrong, what will bring ultimate fulfillment and happiness. All of God’s people, having been baptized into Jesus Christ, have an obligation to live in the obedience of faith, just as the Jews did, so that all might come into a relationship with God leading to eternal salvation. Therefore, just as the Old Testament Faith did not originate with the Jews, the New Testament Faith does not originate with us.

We were baptized into Christ, not ourselves, and not unto ourselves, but unto God to be more conformed to his likeness in how we think and what we desire. For our sake, the Lord gave the keys to the kingdom to Saint Peter and his Successors in Rome, NOT to any of US. For centuries it has been their duty to protect the gospel and determine what teachings were essential to it.
When confronted with a behavior, practice, belief or philosophy in our modern world which contradicts the Gospel, we cannot treat the Faith as one opinion among equals. God has appointed the Church to guide us in these matters. We must pursue God like the Canaanite woman pursued Christ. We must also persevere in Faith like the Jews. As they were to reject the influence of the cultures around them, rejecting any other gods, so we must reject the erroneous thinking prevalent in our age. We should not profane the teachings of the Church by mingling them with teaching contrary to the Gospel entrusted to our leaders.

In this way all nations will come to know the one True God, through you and me – through our obedience of faith – a heritage entrusted to us by the Lord himself. Today, if you are a Jewish Catholic, rejoice that you are of the original olive tree. I you are a Gentile Catholic, rejoice that you have been grafted in, but let us together be on guard lest we once again be cut off.

2011-06-19T13:11:00.002-04:00

We like to reduce things to signs and symbols. It’s convenient. Symbols simplify communication and are useful in teaching. The message behind the sign is usually much greater or deeper than the sign itself. For example, what does this sign mean? (I love you.) (Touchdown – Ben Roethlisberger to Hines Ward.) (Peace/Sign of Peace at mass.) (Blessed Trinity/Two natures of Jesus Christ.)

Our Creed is a symbol, it contains within it the most central and highest mystery of our faith, the Blessed Trinity. I believe in God, the Father…in Jesus Christ…the Holy Spirit…, but these are not a bare minimum for our faith. They represent much more.

It is correct to say that “the faith of all Christians rests on the Trinity.” It is the mystery of God in himself and is therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the "hierarchy of the truths of faith". We cannot arrive at this knowledge by human reason alone. Before the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, even Israel did not understand God as Trinity even though he left traces of his Trinitarian work of creation and in his Revelation throughout the OT.

What is the Trinity? The Trinity is an eternal dialogue of love. Not a selfish love. God is one, but he is not alone. Father + Son + Holy Spirit = an eternal community of love. Through the revelation of the Trinity, we know that love is generative, it gives of itself, it produces fruit, it seeks the other, it goes outside of itself. The love of God is the primary cause of our existence. We exist because God loves us and willed us to exist. He did not need us – we add nothing to him nor does anything we do detract from who or what God is.

Which brings us to the second most fundamental and essential teaching of our faith, the incarnation of the Son of God. In the fullness of time, God chose to complete the revelation of himself to Israel and all who would believe, through His only-begotten Son. A human person who was also divine in nature. We call this the “hypostatic union”. (Show the hand sign.) In Christ, the divine nature of the Son remained undiminished by his human nature and his human nature remained complete and unabsorbed by his greater divine nature. There was not a new third nature created in Jesus. Rather, it is a union, like marriage, in which the two remain distinct as individuals, but are now bound to one another in one person.

Through the Incarnation, we learn that God refused to abandon his creation even though it had fallen into sin. From all eternity, he chose to bind himself to our human nature in time and restore to us our original dignity and reveal our purpose to live in a communion of love with him forever in heaven,

We know God by his actions. One of Jesus primary missions was to reveal the Father. To show us who and what the Father is. That is why today’s Gospel is so important to Trinity Sunday and our understanding of God.

God so loved…that he gave. (We know God by his actions.) This is perhaps one of the most famous passages of scripture. John 3:16. Love is generative. It gives of itself. It seeks the other. John 3:16 is often used as a symbol representing the entire gospel. Unfortunately, this too is often misused as a bare minimum for faith, and worse, for excluding others from the possibility of being saved.

God knows us by our actions, also. Through the Son of God, we know what is required of us when we say that “we believe”. Belief goes beyond simple assent. The Son does not simply receive the love of the Father, he acts on it. He does what the Father tells him. HE ALSO GIVES. The Father gave the Son, the Son give us himself in obedience to the Father, and the Son gives himself back the father through obedience. Love is not a feeling – love is an action and requires a response. If we do not receive and respond, the love bears no fruit.

As symbols, the Creed and John 3:16 are not intended to be the bare minimums of faith for us. They are meant to be symbols of all that we believe to be revealed by God through His Church. Now more than ever we are without excuse if we are ignorant of the faith and if we don’t know why the Church teaches what it teaches to be part of that revelation. Baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, having the benefit of an education, we have every obligation to respond to the love God has freely poured into our hearts. We must use human reason and everything he gave us through the Catholic Church: Scripture, Tradition, the Sacraments – to act in obedience and return the love we have in the Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ, to the Father. In order to this, I pray in the words of Saint Paul: May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.

God's Greatest Creation

2010-08-16T08:17:00.003-04:00

Imagine with me all of God's great creations, close your eyes if you wish, and recall some of the most beautiful, amazing, and majestic creations of God:
> the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, the galaxies and nebulae of space
> the blue whale, thoroughbred horses, the Serengeti Plains filled with lions, zebra, elephants, and beasts of various kinds
> Mount Everest, the Rocky Mountains, the most magnificent coral reefs
* Whatever you can imagine
* Close your eyes, remember them think on them for a moment

Now, realize this truth:
> None of them are as beautiful, amazing, and majestic as you
* You are a human person, a human body, endowed with a rational, personal soul, the highpoint of God's creation
* and NO OTHER CREATION is greater than you or me, because our body - the human body - is the only one capable of communion with the Creator, and NO OTHER CREATION is destined for eternity with Him

God desired this communion and created us for communion from the beginning
> But as the book of Revelation reminds us this weekend, Satan is at war
* He attacked the woman and her offspring in the Garden of Eden and succeeded in deceiving Adam and Eve
* Yet, even at the moment of original sin, which ruptured that original relationship, His plan of redemption was already in place
* In Genesis Chapter 3, he promises that the woman and her offspring would crush the head of Satan
> He eventually called Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob seeking to establish a people who were uniquely his own, a people who would be the cause of salvation for the entire human race
> Then he called Moses who oversaw the development of worship after he lead the Israelites out of Egypt
* Central to their worship was "The Ark of the Covenant"
* a wooden chest made, covered with gold and adorned with angels
* In this ark, the Israelites placed the Stone Tablets containing the word of God, The Staff of Aaron who was their first high priest, and Manna "The bread from heaven" which God provided to sustain them in the desert of Sinai before they reached the Promised Land
* This ark was a sign of God's presence and their communion because the Lord would descend upon in the form of a cloud and speak to Moses as a friend

But these Old Testament artifacts, were only shadows of what was to come
> they could never completely satisfy the desire for communion because they were for the most part, external to the human person
* They served to point to something greater in God's plan of salvation
> Only God Himself could bring satisfaction
* You see: Jesus had to become the Word of God made Flesh
* He had to be the Great High Priest, ministering in a heavenly tabernacle, a heavenly temple, not an earthly one
* And he had to be the True Bread from Heaven by which His people could have more than a merely nutritional supplement for their bodies, but one by which he nourished their very souls
> This being the case, to whom would God entrust His Son? Into what Ark could he place himself for the salvation of the human race?

At the fullness of time, God prepared a woman to bear His Son and together they would fulfill what God promised so long ago
> Our catechism states:
* 721 "Mary... is the masterwork of the mission of the Son and the Spirit in the fullness of time."
* 722 "...by sheer grace, [Mary was] conceived without sin as the most humble of creatures, the most capable of welcoming the inexpressible gift of the Almighty."
* By welcoming the conception of the Lord in her womb, Mary became the "Ark of the New Covenant" holding within herself the Word of God, the Great High Priest, and the Bread of Life
* She also crushed the head of Satan and became the Mother of God, the first disciple, the model and prototype of the Church, and the cause of our salvation
> Many people have wondered where the Old Testament Ark of the Covenant is today
* Some Archaeologists have gone to great lengths to find it
* And despite what we see in Raiders of the Lost Ark, no one really knows what happened to it after the Babylonian invasion in 586 B.C.
> There is no question as to where the Ark of the New Covenant is today
* Revelation chapter 12 makes it clear that as the New Ark, Mary, the woman, is already in the heavenly temple body and soul, clothed with the sun with the moon under her feet, and crowned with 12 stars
* She is the first among Christians to be granted that great victory over death in her body spoken of by Saint Paul
* As prototype of the Church, she is what we will be
* Truly, because of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, we too have hope of complete redemption of our bodies and souls
> In the face of every pain and suffering we declare with the Great Apostle:
* WHERE, O DEATH, IS YOUR VICTORY?
* WHERE, O DEATH, IS YOUR STING?

But we must never take our victory over death for granted
> The Gospel tells us that one of the primary reasons Mary was blessed is because she heard the word of God, believed it, and obeyed it
* One of the biggest errors Christians can make today is to think that faith is comprised only of those matters they can understand or matters that are in line with their own opinions
* Even the truth of Mary's Assumption into heaven is called into question and has been made a matter of opinion by some
> So, let us be clear a to what faith is:
* Although faith must involve reason, faith is not believing only in what we can already accept and understand
* As Mary demonstrates, faith is saying yes to God even when we are afraid of the circumstances and even when we cannot completely understand His ways

Revelation Chapter 12 also makes clear that the last thing Satan wants is for us to become like Our Lady
> With an irrational hatred and jealously he continues to make war on the woman and her offspring
* Satan's primary strategy is to rupture our communion with God by promoting offenses against the human body:
* like murder, human trafficking, physical abuse, substance abuse, gluttony, laziness, adultery, sodomy, abortion, euthanasia, contraception, cohabitation, and modern technology which attacks the embryo for research or exploits it for in vitro purposes
> Accepting Church teaching on some of these matters can be difficult
* We are roundly mocked for our teachings and considered backward because of our beliefs about such things
* but the Church is obligated to bring both faith and reason to bear even on our modern circumstances
* Because if we are to join Our Lady where she is, we need to make every effort to thwart the attacks of Satan with the Truths of the Catholic Faith and make every effort to be more like her for the glory of Her Son and the salvation of all

Today we have received the Word of God - we heard it proclaimed from this Ambo and with our own lips praised and thanked God for it
> Very soon, we will be offered a true communion with Jesus, our Great High Priest, we will receive Him as the Bread of Life and the Cup of Eternal Salvation and take Him into our own bodies
> Thus each of us becomes, in an way, an ark of the new covenant and in our bodies we realize this communion is what we were created for
> And we look forward to a new day when like our Blessed Mother, we are carried into the heavenly Jerusalem, into eternal communion with God and all the saints with a new and glorified body

Mary and Martha Revisited

2010-07-19T05:55:00.005-04:00

1) Today’s readings lead me to ask three questions as a disciple
   a) Do we recognize whom we are serving?
   b) Why do we serve?
   c) What is our first priority as disciples?
2) In our culture, technology allows us to screen the various encounters we may have during a day.
   a) With the aid of caller id, answering machines, receptionists, and security cameras, we can make judgments about an encounter and choose whether or not we want to have it.
   b) Understandably, we assume we know what an encounter may bring based on previous experience
      i) Making such judgments is not necessarily a bad thing, but we must be careful that we do not therefore miss an opportunity to bless someone by being present to them when they need us
      ii) Abraham did not have luxury of screening his encounters as we do today, but perhaps that was a blessing in his case.
   c) When his mysterious guests arrived, Abraham was sitting in the entrance to his tent (perhaps enjoying a breeze in the shade on a hot day)
      i) he put aside his own comfort and “he waited on them”
      ii) great effort in serving the strangers, a meal made with “fine flour”, a “tender, choice steer”, and “curds and milk”
      iii) Even at this point in the passage it is not apparent to us or to Abraham who these strangers are
      iv) Context is always important. From the second part of this chapter which you can read in Chapter 18 of Genesis, we know that one of visitors is the Lord, and the others are angels who enact judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah.
   d) Let us couple Abraham’s example with the teachings of our Lord and the Apostle Paul:
      i) Matthew 25: “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.”
      ii) Colossians 3: “do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. Whatever you do, do from the heart, as for the Lord and not for others”
   e) In the light of Christian revelation, the answer to the question, “Do we know whom we are serving?” is clear:
      i) regardless of whom we encounter we are serving the LORD;
      ii) therefore, every encounter is an opportunity to receive the Lord as our guest and an opportunity to present the Lord to another and be Christ for another
3) Why do we serve?
   a) Turning back to our second reading from Colossians, we find the very reason we seek to serve and suffer anything on behalf of or for the sake of anyone in the name of Christ
      i) The Apostle Paul states: “in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, the church, to bring to completion for you the word of God”
   b) With Saint Paul, we rejoice in our suffering because we know and believe that the Christian revelation is the Truth, not just one truth among many equally valid truths
   c) we desire to see more and more people enter the Church because we know and believe that Christ is not just any man
      i) The son promised to Abraham in today’s first reading was just the beginning of the plan of salvation, a foreshadowing
      ii) Jesus is the true SON, the completion of that promise for the salvation of the whole human race, not just the people of Israel
   d) as Paul says, that which was hidden is now revealed for us.
      i) It is a mystery that is revealed not only FOR us and TO us, but by our participation in the Church and the sacraments, that salvation, our Lord and God, now dwells IN us!
   e) And that indwelling is our hope of glory!
      i) A hope which compelled Saint Paul and compels us to “proclaim Him, admonishing everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present EVERYONE perfect in Christ” (NOT just ourselves)
      ii) WHAT A MOTIVATION we have!
4) Proper motivation and enthusiasm come from the regular practice of our first and foremost priority as disciples of Christ
5) So, THIRDLY, What is that priority?
   a) In today’s Gospel, we first meet Martha, who welcomed Jesus into her home and began serving, preparing a meal and waiting at table
   b) Then we are introduced to her sister Mary “who (taking the posture of a disciple) sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak”
   c) It appears that Martha, as a good Jewish woman, is doing exactly what her Father Abraham had done in our first reading; and strangely, the Lord rebukes her.
   d) Jesus’ gentle rebuke to Martha reminds us of two things:
      i) that our service must first be formed with the proper motivations
      ii) that we risk missing the divine in the everyday demands of life
   e) If we contrast Martha’s behavior to that of Abraham we will notice that while Abraham is concerned only for the well-being of his guests, Martha speaks only of herself: “Tell her to help me,” she says
      i) I want to avoid reading too much into Martha’s motivations, but as we ought to do when reading scripture, I allowed it to provoke a question within me: What might my motivations be in the same situation?
         (1) Desire for notoriety, of having a famous prophet in my home?
         (2) Pride of being an excellent host a good chef, of being complimented for my service?
      ii) In my meditation I also wondered, “How many of us have embarked upon a project without fully estimating the cost and then sought to be bailed out like Martha?” Crying to God and demanding help.
   f) How often do our days and weeks go by with school, with work, with family, housework, and activities and we wonder, “Where did that day go? Where did that week go?”
      i) We find ourselves at Church on Sunday and we may discover it is the only hour of the week we spend in the presence of God.
         (1) Even while we are here our minds may be anxious about many things
         (2) With all that is going on, it’s not difficult to be distracted at mass – I have found myself planning the day, preparing for an event, thinking about work; and I have to bring myself back to what I am to be doing here, sitting at the feet of Jesus
      ii) At times like these we must listen to the words of Jesus again, but let us substitute our own names for Martha’s name:
         (1) “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.
         (2) (Pause)
         (3) “GREGORY, GREGORY, you are anxious and worried about many things.
         (4) There is need of only one thing.”
   g) When Jesus tells Martha that Mary has chosen the better part (portion) he is telling all of us, that the first and best priority in our lives is a real and intimate relationship with God.
      i) Jesus is the really the host in Martha’s house – recall how in Matthew 20 he tells us that he came “not to be served, but to serve"
      ii) Remember our first question: DO WE RECOGNIZE WHOM WE ARE SERVING? WHO IS IN OUR PRESENCE?
         (1) Ultimately, to be a disciple we must be both Mary and Martha, but in the right order
         (2) First, with Mary, we sit at the feet our Lord, the Master Servant
         (3) We listen, learn, worship, and prepare
         (4) Properly prepared, we then serve in His presence with the proper motivations, so that others may take their turn at his feet
      iii) Martha has an opportunity here: Her service allows Mary to rest at the feet of Jesus.
      iv) When we serve, do we see that same opportunity?
         (1) When we agree to be greeters at mass, or lectors, cantors, and extraordinary ministers; when children become altar servers and when parents volunteer to work with Children’s Liturgy;
         (2) when we cook a meal for someone, or care for the needs of other,
         (3) we do so because we have spent time at the feet of Christ and we desire to allow and enable others to sit His feet, that they may have rest and fellowship with God and others.
6) Christians!
   a) Let us recognize whom we serve
   b) Remember why we serve
   c) And may we always choose the better part

Who Then Is This?

2009-09-23T12:43:00.007-04:00

At least once a year, at Christmas or Easter, it seems like some new article or news program attempts to define for us who Jesus really was in contrast to what the Church teaches. And though we can fault them for any biases they inject into their productions, we cannot fault them for asking the question "Who is Jesus?", because it is a perennial question. Since returning to the Catholic faith, I have not tired of asking this question, and I would suggest that, whether we know it or not, we all have asked ourselves this question to some degree or another at multiple points in our life.

Like the disciples in today's gospel, we are challenged in our understanding of who Jesus is in the midst of trials, tribulation, or suffering; and, depending on what kind of relationship we have with him, we may come to different answers. For example, the disciples had clearly been formulating an opinion about Jesus from the miracles he performed during the days, weeks or months preceding this day when they crossed to the other side of the sea of Galilee. I am sure that, by this time, they had pretty high hopes for this Jesus whom they were following. After all, a voice from heaven declared that he was "my Beloved Son" and even the demons which he cast out called him "the Holy One of God"!

Then comes the storm. Now, sudden storms like this are not uncommon on the Sea of Galilee, so it may not have been a surprise to the disciples, but what made this storm different in their minds was who they had in the boat with them. We need to consider that in the ancient near east in the time and place of the disciples, storms were depicted as manifestations of evil and chaos. In addition, we are familiar with the ancient misconception that an unfortunate death implied that you were a sinner or cursed and forsaken by God. Taken altogether, is it any wonder why the disciples asked Jesus, "Do you not care that we are perishing?" I can hear the unspoken questions they asked themselves. "What will the world think of us if we perish this way? We thought he could be the messiah! Doesn't he care?! His reputation is on the line. Our reputation is on the line! Is he not who we thought he was?" This storm then posed more than a physical threat, it was an attack on their hope, on their concept of who Jesus was; and they were afraid.

How many of us, if we are honest with ourselves, have questioned God in this manner? Haven't we wondered or cried out in the midst of our suffering or some other crisis: "Where are you? Don't you care? Do you even exist?" How many of us have asked. "What have I done to deserve this?" or "ls this how you treat those who love you?" These are fair questions and they are not new. They proceed from every human life and they demand an adequate answer; but, continuing to be honest with ourselves, under what conditions do we ask these questions? Are we in a regular daily conversation with God, or is this the first time in months that we sought his attention? Do we really have a relationship with the Lord, or do we only turn to him in our distress, and then only to be angry with him? Am I faithfully visiting him at Sunday Mass and adoring hini in the Blessed Sacrament? Do I go to penance regularly? Do I pray to him daily?

If my answer to these questions is "no", then it is my faith that is asleep in the storm, not the Lord. But, what if I have been doing all those things and I still cry? Am I wrong? In such circumstances, I would say that I was like Job. Job was a very righteous and holy man who suffered without cause simply because Satan desired it. God permitted Job to suffer greatly and Job basically asked "Where are you? Don't you care? Do you even exist?" Job wanted to be vindicated. He wanted to know why he was suffering when he had done nothing wrong. He didn't believe God would
allow such a thing to occur. He had an idea of who God was, but his image of God was incomplete. Yet, an amazing thing happened in the midst of Job's suffering. God revealed himself to Job! Job thought he knew God, but his concept of God was challenged when tragedy struck. Thus confronted, he had to come to terms with Who God really was. At the end of his suffering, Job saw that God's ways were far beyond his human understanding and was humbled, but more importantly he was moved toward a clearer understanding of Who God is.

The same opportunity can be found in the midst of our tragedies; thus when we are finished asking our questions, the Lord rightfully asks us like he asked the disciples: "Why are you so terrified? Do you not yet have faith?" Beyond a mere chastisement, Jesus' response prompts us to evaluate the status of our ordinary everyday faith in God. Jesus demonstrates the type of faith we ought to have. He is asleep in the boat while everyone else was panicking. It is the kind of faith called "Abandonment to Divine Providence", in a book of the same name by Jean Pierre de Cassaud. A compelling title. It clearly reflects what we see in Jesus' behavior during the storm.

Jesus can sleep because has an eternal perspective. He knows that whatever happens to us has already been known to the Father and whatever the outcome may be, God has accounted for it and has a plan to redeem it even when we do not understand it. We very often speak as if God is only seeing the events of our lives as they happen to us, and that he does not or cannot take action until we are in the midst of them. We must remind ourselves that God is eternal and outside of time. He is totally timeless and time is just another of his creatures. Knowing this enabled Jesus to keep his human will completely disposed to the will of the Father. As he says in John 5:30 "I can do nothing on my own authority...I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.

We, too, must strive to develop this attitude of abandonment in which we realize that no tragedy that befalls us has to be a cause for fear or doubt, but for absolute trust in God who from all eternity has seen and known and provided an answer for us in the Person of Jesus. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1009 states:

"Death is transformed by Christ. Jesus, the Son of God, also himself suffered the death that is part of the human condition. Yet, despite his anguish as he faced death, he accepted it in an act of complete and free submission to his Father's will. The obedience of Jesus has transformed the curse of death into a blessing."

And so, "Who is this then that even the wind and the waves obey him?" He is an eternal Answer to the question posed by each and every human life.

Reflection on Hospital Ministry

2009-08-18T12:51:00.004-04:00

     Reflecting upon my assignment, I am reminded of Saint Paul’s words in Philippians 3:10-11, “…that I may know [Christ] and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” These verses highlight the desire I had for my visits at Holy Spirit Hospital to be more than anecdotal and my hope that I would come to know Christ through the patients and that they might also know Christ through me. Although I cannot speak for the patients, I can say that I saw the mystery of Christ’s union with humanity come to light in a way that I had not anticipated.
     To be honest, many visits were brief and somewhat awkward. Beginning a visit could be difficult and I first had to fight off the urge to cut short the possibility of ministering simply because of my feelings or negative first impressions. Then I had to resist the urge to manufacture something meaningful of an encounter in order to settle my own conscience. Pushing through my personal inhibitions, I discovered that my most successful encounters were sometimes those which were the most difficult to begin and, each time I went, I felt called to remain with at least one or two people in particular.
     Over the weeks, I was moved to meditate on the meaning of a human life, the significance of a human person as a historical/temporal being, and how s/he is formed by experiences, especially the one of which I had become a part at Holy Spirit. As I entered a room, I saw myself entering a person’s history and pondered the depth of the notion and the potential each entrance contained. If permitted, it would be my privilege to enter into the experiences of another, adding to the totality of who s/he was and what God intended for him/her.
     But, who was I and what did I really have to offer anybody? I had no cure and no particular agenda. I knew nothing about the person except his/her name and that s/he was a patient at HSH. Thus impoverished, I could only offer myself and my presence and I developed a sense of openness and receptivity that paid tribute to each patient’s dignity as a person created in the image of God. I saw that patients were susceptible to losing their sense of dignity because of their sufferings. After all, how dignified can you feel with a tube up your nose or in your neck, or when wearing one of those hospital gowns? Nonetheless, I could see some were coming to terms with their sufferings while others had already come to accept them and were bearing them with great grace. In each case, I believe that before me was an encounter with Christ Himself, whether or not it was immediately discernable to me, and that he was not just asking me to offer myself to the person, but to God, and that somehow He was offering Himself to me.
     I was especially blessed by the older patients who shared their stories with me, because they were inviting me inside their hearts to share in who they were. In those periods of protracted listening, I received a glimmer of what “becoming like him in his death” might mean and I experienced a type of communion with them as each of us became part of the other’s history, leaving a memory that would not soon be forgotten. While many encounters and experiences in my life may go by almost without another thought, these minutes were long, deep, and substantial.
     The most uncomfortable situations were the ones in which the patient was unable to communicate with me. At times like these, words would have been gratuitous and a sympathetic glance followed by a prayer seemed to be appropriate. Such patient visits were always easier if the family was around. Regardless of these encounters, I did not find my assignments too difficult to face or too much to bear, and I ultimately found that the hardest part of being in the pastoral ministry program at Holy Spirit Hospital was leaving.

Homily on Luke 1:39-45

2009-04-03T08:41:00.003-04:00

     The Catholic Church has stated her position on life in the womb with these words from the Universal Catechism: “’Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involvesthe creative action of God…who is its sole end…. [N]o one can under any circumstance claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being.’” (Paragraph 2258) Despite the historicity of this teaching, some Catholics claim that the Church has not always defended the sanctity of human life in the womb. Today we find that a silent Jesus has something to say to the very people who want to bear His name and, at the same time, deny that human life within the womb has the right to be born.
     Turning to the gospel we read, “Mary set out in those days….” What days? This passage immediately follows the Annunciation, when Mary said “Yes” to God. Now, were you to ask Mary on the day of the Annunciation if she planned on becoming pregnant that day or if she wanted to become pregnant that day, the answer would have been, “No.” Yet, regardless of what she planned or what she may have wanted, Mary accepted the Word of the Lord and welcomed the conception of that Word in her womb. Granted, the circumstances of her pregnancy were entirely unlike those many women find themselves in today; nonetheless, Mary demonstrates the appropriate response to an “unplanned” pregnancy: Regardless of how they come to us, children are not objects to be wanted or unwanted; rather, they are gifts of God, to be received as willingly as he receives us.
     Continuing, we discover that Mary set out “in haste” to see Elizabeth. This would mean that Jesus would have been anywhere from a few days to a few weeks old in Mary’s womb at the time of her visit. What does Elizabeth, “filled with the Holy Spirit”, declare about this “blob of cells” in Mary’s womb? She proclaims him “Lord!” What is more, Elizabeth declares Mary a “mother”. If Christ were merely a soulless mass of cells and not a human life, how could Mary rightly be called a mother? By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, then, Saint Luke and Saint Elizabeth declare the personhood of the child in the womb from the earliest stages of pregnancy.
     Still people object, saying that women will face poverty and other burdens if they must give birth to an unwanted child. This objection is not without some merit. If we are pro-life, we cannot be pro-fetus only. Both mother and child are human persons who must be afforded the rights of human dignity. Here, again, Mary serves as a model.
     Elizabeth was already beyond the age of bearing children when she miraculously became fertile. We can imagine what a toll such a pregnancy might have on her at her age, especially in those days. Mary knew this, too, and wasted no time in offering her loving service to Elizabeth until Saint John was born. She shows us that we must respond “in haste” when we encounter a person who is experiencing difficulties as a result of pregnancy.
     Young or old, planned or unplanned, wanted or unwanted, like the Blessed Mother, Christians must be the first to provide what may be lacking in order to help struggling mothers bring their babies to term. We must focus on establishing a quality of life for both a mother and her child before and after she gives birth. We have an obligation to establish, promote, and proclaim a system of justice to which frightened and vulnerable mothers can turn in their time of need. They already know that they can get abortions, and in the absence of a known alternative that communicates real peace and hope, the likelihood that a mother will choose to abort her child can only increase.
     Ultimately, we must avoid being misguided and lopsided in our approach to human rights. On the one hand, those who support the rights of the mother, her freedom of conscience, and her right to privacy at the expense of the child in her womb, promote the violation of the most fundamental of all rights, the right to life, which is akin to murder. As we read in the Compendium of Catholic Social Teaching, “The first right…is the right to life, from conception to its natural end, which is the condition for the exercise of all other rights and…implies the illicitness of every form of procured abortion….” (Paragraph 155)
     On the other hand, those who raise their voices, join marches, and vote pro-life in an effort to promote the right to life of the unborn, lose credibility and will lose the battle if they fail to provide an adequate alternative that considers the dignity of both persons. Make haste, therefore, and follow Mary’s example. Words alone will not change hearts and minds. Make haste, for in this age, and in these United States, with so much at our disposal, can we be held guiltless for failing to help establish real alternatives to abortion and bring about its extinction?

Conscience is not God

2008-11-14T09:17:00.004-05:00

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?

2008-06-03T22:33:00.001-04:00

     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

2008-05-16T20:23:00.008-04:00

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

2008-05-07T22:47:00.004-04:00

     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

2008-03-08T09:10:00.002-05:00

    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.

I left my heart in Hampton

2007-11-27T22:19:00.000-05:00

     There are few experiences I cherish in this world as much as my Thanksgiving vacations in VA. (Disclaimer: A statement like that could get me in trouble with others in my family, but they are part of the other couple experiences I cherish that are not the subject of this particular post.)
     On the first day of our vacation, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law open the door to a world in which I can truly escape my daily life. Although not a spiritual retreat, our visit is a retreat in the true sense of the word for me. I am miles from the cares of work and my obligations at home and become part of an entirely different home. Not only do they willingly open the doors of their house, but their hearts, allowing the four of us to come piling in with all our "accoutrements". Some might consider the visit a practical invasion, but in their case, I can only believe it is a welcome one, since they keep feeding and entertaining us. :-)
     The invasion goes beyond the physical space of the home as there are some philosophical differences as well. I enjoy an honest discourse on all the forbidden topics (religion, politics, parenting, Coke vs. Pepsi, video-games). I believe people like me need such conversations, no matter how uncomfortable they may be. I want to be challenged and I like to be challenging. (After all, the goal of my weekend was to beat my 12 year old nephew at Wii boxing.) Thankfully, we all willingly and openly discourse on such matters reasonably and with charity.
     Then there are the other aspects of my personality. My wife is accustomed to most of these, but to subject her sister's family to them intermittently over several years may not be very constructive. Nonetheless, they receive me, my wife, my children and our accompanying quirks with all the dignity due to human persons. They treat many others the same way, which is an important and virtuous practice lost on many these days.
     Despite all the potential for division in one week, we are family, with a bond that such differences ought not sever. I actually believe our open dialog, mutual acceptance, and having some home-spun fun and tradition makes that bond stronger. So, to my dear family in VA, I send all my love. Thanks for helping me experience the true meaning of Thanksgiving every year. May God grant us countless more.

Nueva Entrada

2007-11-08T21:24:00.000-05:00

     Well, this is strange. I decided I would take some of my very valuable time tonight to actually post an entry to my blog and I discover everything is in Spanish. For some, this might pose a problem. Thankfully, I know the language and navigate quite easily with it. In any case, this is but a brief intrusion into the blogosphere. Of most worthy note are my studies. I am reading The Tripersonal God by Gerald O'Collins, S.J. Quite informative if you're seeking to understand the limits of what we know from divine revelation and reason about the Godhead, but comprehension of that mystery will always elude us.
     At times, I feel uncomfortable with mystery. I want to know the truth about the object I am studying. I want to know it in its entirety so I can make the best possible judgment I can. Not surprisingly, I cannot do so with God. Though He is simple in regards to His being, He remains beyond the grasp of the greatest human intellect. We can only begin to understand him through analogy, and in that we must be resigned to say that whatever similarities He has to His creation, he is utterly distinct from anything in creation. We also use the way of negation. God is NOT mortal, NOT measurable, NOT visible, NOT limited, NOT finite, NOT made of parts, NOT bound to time, NOT, NOT, NOT. (That should suffice for the point.)
     So, I hope you have enjoyed this short foray into my studies. I would write more, but I have to read the rest of that book for Saturday. On second thought, I would like to correct the language problem with my blog, but nothing seems to be working. All indicators are that this is clearly the work of the Ghost of Cervantes.

Out 'til December

2007-10-14T12:19:00.000-04:00

I am really sorry to all those who actually come to this wasteland of a blog looking for new content. I wish I could offer more, but I cannot. Not now at least. I have very much reading to do for the diaconate program and the blog is just not on the top of the list. Perhaps in December, when the semester is over, I can bring you all that I have been wanting to share.

I Got a Golden Ticket

2007-08-26T21:48:00.000-04:00

Although I wouldn't mind a trip to the chocolate factory, that's not the kind of ticket I received. It is a ticket to something far sweeter, the joys of which will be everlasting. After one very packed year of study, service, and scrutiny I have received a positive answer to my prayers in the form of a letter from my beloved bishop. The letter states that he has accepted my petition and the favorable recommendation of my evaluators; and so, this September, I will be installed as a "candidate" in the "Diaconate Formation Program" in the Diocese of Harrisburg, PA. Now, having made it thus far, there is still no guarantee that he will eventually grant me the grace of the "laying on of hands", but it is nonetheless a significant milestone on the path to becoming a Deacon.
Many Christians today do not see the significance in being ordained a Deacon. Practically all modern denominations have demoted the deacon to the ranks of an adviser or trustee. Far worse, it is not even an ordained office in their eyes, so they wonder what the big deal is. The Deacon, however, has been a significant ordained office in the Church since the time of the Apostles. We see in scripture how the Deacons were ordained for service by the apostles in Acts and had the authority to preach, teach, and represent the Church in an official capacity. The lives of Stephen and Phillip come to mind as do the passages from Saint Paul that speak of being "sent". Elsewhere we can read the words of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, a disciple of the Apostle John, who says

"Indeed, when you submit to the bishop as you would to Jesus Christ, it is clear to me that you are living...as Jesus Christ.... [D]o nothing without the bishop, and that you be subject also to the presbytery [priests], as to the apostles of Jesus Christ.... It is necessary also that the deacons, the dispensers of the mysteries [sacraments] of Jesus Christ, be in every way pleasing to all men. For they are not the deacons of food and drink, but servants of the Church of God." (Letter to the Trallians 2:1-3 [A.D. 110]).

The invitation to candidacy could not have come on a more significant day for it was the "Feast of the Queenship of Mary". For particular reasons, I had confided my prayers to the Blessed Mother, whom the Sacred Scriptures have revealed to be the queen of all those who follow Christ and keep his commandments.(Rev 12) I truly expected that I would have my letter in hand on August 15th (the Feast of the Assumption), but with faith in Christ, I continued steadfast knowing He would hear our prayers. I am very thankful for this gift so close to my birthday and look forward to another year sitting at the feet of the Master.

So-Called Weekend Projects

2007-08-20T00:25:00.000-04:00

     If anyone here has ever truly finished a do-it-yourself, home improvement type, "weekend project" in one weekend, in its entirety, without a single item left unfinished for the next three years when you finally "get to it", please raise your hand. I am not talking about your simple, run of the mill, paint job or putting together your new grill. What I am pretty much working toward here is that no matter how much time you think you need to get it done, it's going to take longer.
     In addition, I find that there is always something you didn't count on. So far - praised be to our beloved Lord - I haven't hit that one yet, but I'll give it some more time. Why more time? Well because if you look at the timestamp on this post you'll see that the weekend is over. Sadly, the project is not finished, but it's looking good. I'll have to get a shot of it. After bed, after peeling my aching body out of bed, and after work tomorrow. I hope someone out there is praying for me by now!
     Good night.

2 Days 'Til Vacation

2007-08-02T12:50:00.000-04:00

I have two days to go before leaving for a much-desired, eagerly-anticipated, and dearly-needed vacation. Yet, I fear that I have so much to accomplish in the next two days for stability's sake that, if I don't get it all done, I will be thinking about it during vacation. Part of me wants to just say, "Oh well, it's a good thing no one will be able to reach me in the distant hills of wherever". (Location ommitted in case anyone had any ideas of tracking me down.) The more responsible side of me thinks I would be derelict to leave it all behind especially if it's incomplete. The best I can do at this point, instead of trying to get it all done, is to stop wasting my lunch time on this blog and start getting people comfortable with the status of everything and letting them know who will handle it, if anyone, and what will happen when I get back. Does that sound fair? I hope so, because if it's not, I'll waste my vacation worrying about it.

Willing Souls

2007-07-19T18:16:00.000-04:00

     I will be finishing up my internship at the prison next Wednesday. I am saddened by that thought, although I am quite happy to see what two willing souls can do in eight weeks. Eight weeks ago, if you asked me what difference I would make in the lives of 15-20 Christian prisoners, I couldn't have told you. I went to listen and to learn how to make a difference. Not surprisingly, the Holy Spirit had other plans.
     Basically, my friend and I expected to have a mentor during this internship. Well, we didn't. On the first day we sat in the prison lobby, waiting for the prison chaplain to escort us into the chapel area. I wasn't afraid, but it was uncomfortable not knowing how to break the ice with these men. Then, by an act of God's grace, she showed up. We had heard about her steadfast ministry to the inmates in the past, as well as her love and commitment; but, she had cancer and was too sick from cancer and treatment to continue her ministry at the prison. We had no expectation that she would be there, yet there she was, like an angel from the Lord sent to guide these inexperienced and unknown interns through their first three weeks.
     You would never have guessed that this woman was suffering from anything, such was her joy in the Lord. She was practically the epitome of "true religion" a la James 1:27. From the moment she greeted us we could tell the Holy Spirit was present and active.
     Bodies scanned, bags checked, and hands stamped, we were all escorted into the facility together. The loud large doors were opened and we entered the outer yard. I may have been antimidated by this first-time exposure, but I wasn't. I was ready an willing to help, an attitude I can only attribute to the Holy Spirit within me.
     Inside the chapel, we could see clearly that she had developed a very deep and holy relationship with these men that was making a difference in their lives. She saw the inherent dignity that these men had as human beings created in the image and likeness of God. She brought them Jesus Christ and, like Christ, in the hours that followed, she raised them up out of the dust and blessed them with unconditional love.
     After the third week, our angelic guide had to return to her treatements. For the past five weeks we have raised the standard in her stead. We did not have the history with the men that she had, but we had the heart. In the following weeks I found that there is something about being a Christian that sparks to life when you are truly doing what the Lord has commanded or called blessed. Ultimately, if there is a greatest need these men have it is for continued and consistent love and discipleship.
     But for the grace of God, I might be where they are today. Because of that grace, I long to be with them as often as I can to listen, pray, teach, and worship with them. I won't be able to do that as often after this internship, nonetheless, I am committed to continue working on their behalf for years to come.
     You know...it's amazing what a difference 15-20 Christian prisoners can have on two willing souls.

Being "Mates" with Inmates

2007-07-04T20:47:00.000-04:00

     I am quite disappointed to see that I have not blogged since June 15th. I was incredulous when my inspiration for blogging said it was so. So, I believe I owe the four or five of you an explanation.
     I have been deeply involved with prison ministry this past month. I go every Sunday, Wednesday, and Saturday to give spiritual support, counsel, and fellowship to the inmates. They are a great group of men. I am very drawn to the ministry there and really wish I did not have to leave. These men are hungry for answers. They also desire to be seen as human beings. There is a terrible loss of dignity when you are an inmate. I hope that the few hours I have with them will help restore that dignity which comes from being made in the image and the likeness of God.
     I only have a few weeks left. I know the men will miss us and we them, so I am trying to find someone to fill in for me when I return to classes. Please take the time to pray for them. It's not an easy life, especially if the rest of it will be in prison.

One Eternal Choice

2007-06-15T20:28:00.000-04:00

     I was working on a really thought-out, philosophical post for my blog today to finish up my free will in heaven series. I have given up on that one. Not that I do not have adequate material, but I just don't have the time to make it coherent. Besides, my posts have just been way too long. Maybe because they are former five-page philosophy papers made to fit in a blog post. At least, that's one theory.
     For now, I am concluding that there is free will in heaven and that choice may be something foreign to eternity. God is what we willed all along as we sought to satisfy any desire, rightly or wrongly. We are hard-wired to want Him, but there's that original sin thing that obscures our vision. Then, there was the day we chose Him and not our own selfish misguided ends. By His grace we saw how eternal communion with Him was what we were longing for all along. Nothing else compares; and so, we wait for the day when our wills will be absolutely free from any distraction. They will be at rest in the very God whom we've longed for in every desire we sought to satisfy.
     When our wills are at rest, we no longer have to choose. Making choices is just another burden anyway. Especially if you're me. I won't even tell you how long it took me to decide whether or not to scrap the initial post for this one. Its a sickness, but you can bet I'm not going to see a doctor about it. (That's an easy choice.) Lord, haste the day when I can just sit back, relax, and enjoy the rewards of the one choice that is eternal. Loving God.

Free Willy

2007-06-07T23:32:00.001-04:00

     Spurred on by important comments (1, 2), I will continue to "spout" off some more about free will. I want to FINish this before midnight so I will try to be brief.
     By Nature, our souls are created to desire "the good"; but, because of original sin, our minds (intellect + will) are clouded; so, we at times perceive things to be good that are actually not good. We would never choose something we did not perceive to be good. If we choose evil it is because we have seen some benefit in doing it. If someone chooses evil for the sake of evil, they are pathological or under diabolical influences.
     In heaven, we are perfected, and so our wills always clearly perceive "the good" accurately; moreover, we see the very source of all that is good face to face; hence, all our choices are compatible with the Divine Will of God. The choices are still ours and they are still free.
     Concerning the existence of sin before the tree of the knowledge of good an evil existed: As discussed here, we see that Satan and the other fallen angels could and did sin before the tree existed. I maintain that if man does not always have free will, he ceases to be human. Free will is the evidence of the image and likeness of God in man. Man had it before and after the fall and, to remain truly human, will have it in eternity. A will does not cease to be free just because it does not have any evil to choose. A will can still be free in heaven to choose between two or more perfectly legitimate goods.

Sin in Heaven: Part Two

2007-06-05T18:41:00.000-04:00

Before I could finish and post Sin in Heaven: Part Two, Tranquil Thunder stole my thunder with this comment on Sin in Heaven: Part One: "If 'No evil can be conceived of in heaven,' then why did Lucifer get tossed out? How did Jesus see 'Satan fall like lightning from heaven'" (Luke 10:18)?

In Part One I concluded that those in the presence of the Divine Essence cannot sin; but, as Mr. Thunder (may I call you Tranquil) accurately quoted in his comment, I used the word "heaven". I should have thought better of the term. "Heaven" in scripture can mean the sky, outer space, or any "level" up to and including ultimate bliss in the presence of his Divine Essence. (Paul speaks of a 3rd heaven in 2Cor 12:2) In my conclusion, I am referring to the face to face encounter with God. When the scripture says that "Satan fall like lightning from heaven" or that he was "thrown down" from heaven (cf. Rev 12:7-9) it is referring to one of the former concepts, not the face-to-face vision of the Divine Essence.
Concerning the angels, the Compendium to the Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us:

Satan and the other demons "were angels, created good by God. They were, however, transformed into evil because with a free and irrevocable choice they rejected God and his Kingdom, thus giving rise to the existence of hell." (74)

Like Adam and Eve and their descendants, the angels "have intelligence and will"[1] and they also have choices to make. Their first choice, whether or not they would love God above all else, is clearly not unlike the one we must make in our lifetimes.
With the understanding we have gained, we can correctly conclude that God did not create the angels in the immediate presence of His Divine Essence (or beatitude), for if he had, then some could not have fallen. So, Satan and the demons have not fallen from the state of being in the abode of God; rather, they presumed upon it when they sought to ascend to it and rebelled against God (Isaiah 14:12-15). Conversely, the holy angels were granted eternal communion with God as their reward for choosing Him.

1 Catechism of the Catholic Church (1993), 330.

Sin in Heaven: Part One

2007-06-04T22:00:00.000-04:00

Can there be any sin in heaven?

The simple response to the first question is "No," but it does require a more in-depth, philosophical answer. According the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

"[T]he souls of all the saints...who died after receiving Christ's holy Baptism have been, are and will be in heaven. [T]hese souls have seen and do see the divine essence with an intuitive vision, and even face to face, without the mediation of any creature. This perfect life with the Most Holy Trinity is called "heaven." Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness." (1023-1024)

Here, the key words are divine essence, vision, ultimate end, and supreme happiness. Using the reason of Saint Thomas Aquinas to define these terms can help us provide an appropriate answer to the first question.
     The divine essence is God. God exists eternally in and of Himself and is the primary cause of everything that exists; therefore, every existing thing derives its essence from God. Saint Thomas tells us that there are five transcendental attributes that each thing receives from God as part of its essence. They are "being", oneness, goodness, truth, and beauty. God possesses them in absolute perfection, but everything else possesses them at various, lesser degrees of perfection. The transcendental attribute pertaining to our current argument is goodness.
     Since humans comprehend things through the senses, we come to know that something is "good" when we desire it; hence, the essence of goodness is desirability. "Now it is clear that a thing is desirable insofar as it is perfect."[1] If you had to choose between sleeping on a lumpy old mattress and a brand new one made of the space-age foam they use in the space shuttle, you would likely choose the latter because it is more desirable, or better (more perfect), than the former. If you merely desire the good, space-age mattress, though, you will not be happy. In order for your will to be satisfied, you must actually have the mattress and delight in it (which in my case means sleeping on it). But, alas, even this mattress will become old and lumpy some day and your happiness will be lost and you will desire anew.
     What you really desire is supreme happiness, "the perfect good which lulls [satisfies] the appetite altogether...This is not to be found in any creature, but in God alone"[2] as alluded to above. God is the most desirable since he is perfect goodness and the source of all goodness. As Saint James tells us in his epistle, "All good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights" (1:17 NAB). So, the lesser goods of earth are just shadows of God’s goodness. Their goodness directs us to Him as our ultimate end because "God...created man to...share in his own blessed life [i.e., heaven]."[3] Which is to say: Our purpose for existing in the first place is to be in perfect communion with God forever. Or, in a more thought-provoking manner, "the last end is considered first because it determines everything else in life."[4]
     Herein, we must discuss the term vision, namely that eternal face-to-face encounter with the Holy Trinity in heaven, for "perfect happiness can consist in nothing else."[5] This vision, therefore, must extend beyond simply knowing that God exists to knowing what His very Essence is because "the object of the intellect is what a thing is...[w]herefore the intellect attains perfection."[6] In other words, if you don’t know what a space-age mattress is, you won’t desire it; yet, if I tell you about the mattress and all its benefits, you may then desire it, but you still won’t know what it is until you see it and experience it. Once you do, your intellect will be more perfect in regards to the mattress since your desire to know will be satisfied. In this manner, we desire to know God and supreme happiness.
     Finally, we arrive at the heart of our answer. In order to be supremely happy, your desires must be at rest without any fear of losing the delight you have gained. In addition, you must be assured of retaining that delight; else, you have not attained perfect and sufficient goodness.[7] Aquinas argues that "the vision of the Divine Essence fills the soul with all good things since it unites it to the source of all goodness;" hence, it would be impossible for you to reject it by seeking something better.[8] Unlike the things we seek on earth, which are insufficient to satisfy since they come with some inconvenience, God fulfills every longing completely and perfectly; therefore, no evil can be conceived of or perpetrated in heaven even though we retain our free will.

1 Peter Kreeft, Summa of the Summa (San Francisco: Ignatius, 1990), 91.
2 Summa of the Summa, 375
3 Catechism of the Catholic Church (1993), 1
4 Summa of the Summa, 349, footnote 2
5 Ibid., 381
6 Ibid.
7 ibid., 396
8 Ibid., 397

Real-Time: Part Two

2007-06-03T20:14:00.000-04:00

     I concluded Part One saying, "Since God, being eternal, is outside of time and has no beginning or end, how does time, which has a beginning and continues to unravel unto an end, intersect with that eternity?" Putting the substance issue aside, I wish to focus on how God knows the end from the beginning whilst addressing the related issue of His sovereignty and our free will.
     Many people err by rejecting free will in the face of God's sovereignty, as if God could not be be truly sovereign and create beings along with physical laws that are totally free, independent of His will in every way except that He allows them to exist and act. On the one hand, to say he would not or could not implies that God is not all-powerful, but he is and he can. On the other hand, to deny the free will of mankind denies that we are created in the image of God for surely it is not our bodies, but our souls which bear the image of God. We manifest His image through the operations of intellect (reason) and free will (choice). Additionally, if men and women do not have an absolutely free will, then we are not really persons, but pre-programmed automatons. As Dr. Theresa Farnan (book, series) said in my philosophy class, "We experience our personhood in a unique way every time we freely choose something."
     Now, free will may seem like a fly in the ointment of eternity and sovereignty, but I don't think it's all that complicated. (Trying to fathom it is the hard part.) Since God is eternity, the creation of time along with everything else, is an eternal (timeless, outside-of-time) action. The result of that action has a beginning, middle, and end; but, we must make every effort to avoid understanding it as if God is thereby subject to time. In this eternal action, God sees the whole chain reaction of all the physical laws and the free choices of all men and women which God, in His sovereignty permitted. Intrinsically to the action, God knows about the fall of man, the need for a Redeemer, and how He wants it all to end. So, for lack of a better way to say it, God "decided" at what points to inject Himself into time in manifest ways to draw us to Himself as our ultimate end.
     The most important intersection of time and eternity is the crucifiction of His Son, Jesus Christ. It is the focal point of all history. These encounters with God that occur in time are all part of the eternal action to begin with (if we can even use that terminology). We see this in Sacred Scripture, especially in Revelation 13:8 where we are told that Jesus is "the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world."
     Ultimately, we cannot accuse God of any mistakes. His plan was The Plan all along. It is an eternal plan in which we are totally free, permitted by His sovereignty to choose. As part of the plan, God guarantees that every person will have been offered sufficient grace to be saved from final damnation, but they must choose to receive it. In this way, He remains a merciful Father and just Judge.
     It is at this point that I have discerned how highly improbable an entirely satisfactory conclusion* on the matter is attainable in my lifetime; however, I won't let that keep me from seeking one.

*Note: Satisfactory Conclusion = Full knowledge and understanding of the matter.

Real-Time Part One

2007-06-01T20:51:00.000-04:00

     I have spent a lot of time thinking about time in the past year. Ever since I began studying how you can prove the existence of God as a metaphysical reality without appealing to faith, I have spent many moments pondering time. The connection may seem loose at the moment, but it all has to do with the nature of God.
     God is an eternal being, and the supreme being for that matter, who created all things. Time is one of those creatures. Additionally, we only exist because God wills us to, as Saint Luke says, "In Him we live and move and have our being." (Acts 17:28)
     Now, many would say that time is unraveled like a time line on the table in front of God, but I struggle with this concept. Not that I doubt the infinity of God, but because I don't think that there is any substance to the past and the future. I propose that the present is the only aspect of time with substance; therefore, any notion of time travel introduced into science fiction ruins the story for me because I find it not only unrealistic, but unrealizable. I can't even bring myself to imagine it just for the sake of the story. (Basically, Star Trek IV and Star Trek: First Contact were impoverished by the time travel plot.)
     To say the future is unraveled before God would imply that it has substance already, but it doesn't exist yet even if God knows what we are going to choose and how it all ends beforehand. Since God, being eternal, is outside of time and has no beginning or end, how does time, which has a beginning and continues to unravel unto an end, intersect with that eternity? That remains a great mystery to me, at least for the moment.

Underwear Rags

2007-05-30T18:15:00.000-04:00

     My wife claims it isn't funny; but, I never claimed it was funny. Although I did laugh.
     I had placed an old undershirt on the end of the couch saying that I had another rag for her. She glanced at it and declared with slight disgust, "I don't do rags from underwear." Her odd statement combined with mistaking the undershirt for underpants (gross) was humorous to me. I corrected her, still chuckling, and she replied with slight disgust, "It's not really funny."
     At this point I was just overcome with the masculine counterpart to "the giggles" and offered it up as the topic of my next blog entry. She predictably persisted that "It wouldn't be funny."
     Now despite all the chuckling, I never said it would be funny. I simply said it would be the topic of this blog, though not seriously. Unfortunately, I was pushed into it just to prove her wrong. So, here you have it. Are you laughing yet?

Too many accounts

2007-05-29T21:42:00.000-04:00

     Well, to express the sentiment of the "I'm a Mac and I'm a PC" commecials: I am coming to a sad realization. Namely that I have way too many online interests to deal with. I find the whole facebook thing fun and interesting, and I have my work email, my personal email, and now my own blog. Now, it may not sound like much, but I have no time to keep up with them all, do my online shopping, read my favorite online news sites, take care of my wife's and children's technical problems, and watch the latest Strong Bad Emails all in one week. ( I can already feel your sympathy. )
     In any case, the one that has my attention for the time being is the blog. It forces me to have to think long enough to compose something that is an expression of myself for potentially no audience at all. Now why would I want to do that? I don't know, maybe because I'm the kind of person who talks to himself on a regular basis and this is just another form of that. So, I guess I do have an audience even if it is just me. The good thing is, my self-talk outside of a blog tends to be more as a result of the negative. Here, I feel more positive.
     So, here I shall post, but refrain from "going postal". See, I feel better already :-)

We are free

2007-05-28T09:03:00.000-04:00

Happy memorial day!
     Here is my small tribute to those who made it possible for me to sit here a freely type whatever I want on the internet. Well, almost whatever. Which makes me think of how many people mistake freedom for all-out unrestrained license. There are rules for a reason, and many people don't think any rules apply to them. Instead of being free, they are slaves to their vices. True freedom is choosing what's right, not choosing what seems best to me, or what makes me happiest. That philosophy has led many down self-destructive paths.
     The men and women who died in the wars of our nation saw beyond their own personal liberties, their comforts, and their lives to ours. Now, I know there are those who fought for less noble reasons, but I want to focus on those who put themselves into harm's way nobly. From wars past to modern-day Iraq, men and women are seeing the need to be self-sacrificial in their love of their fellow man. They have freely chosen to do what others cannot, or what others refuse to do. And what other kind of love is there really? If it is not totally self-giving, is it truly love? They could have chosen to avoid their duties, preserve their own lives and comforts and liberties, but in fighting for our country they loved people they didn't even know -- you and me. Now that's freedom!
     May God bless them all and may the souls of the faithful departed truly rest in peace.

2007-05-25T22:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to my first post on the Gregorian Chant blog site. My wife says I should call it Gregorian Rant, but I just don't feel like ranting. I do have my opinions and if I ever have enough time I might share them here, but I would rather not go on about my own ideas as much as I would like to speak of matters in terms of realism and reason.

Stay tuned and something might happen here.