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Month: August 2008

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Homilies,

Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

First reading: Isaiah 22:19-23
Psalm: Ps 138:1-3,6,8
Epistle: Romans 11:33-36
Gospel: Matthew 16:13-20

For who has known the mind of the Lord
or who has been his counselor?
Or who has given the Lord anything
that he may be repaid?

Today we are given the challenge. Today we are asked to consider the Church as the sole means to knowing the mind of the Lord.

We come to our parishes each week and we sit in the pew. We participate in the action of the Church by doing so, but we never seem to delve too deeply into the character, the reality, or the presence of the Church. How is it that the Church is the teacher of God’s truth?

As members of God’s Holy Church we are faced with the same question Jesus put to His disciples: —But who do you say that I am?—

Let’s consider the alternatives.

The first alternative is found in Jesus’ first question: —Who do people say that the Son of Man is?—

This is the world’s opinion of the Church. Who does the world say that we are?

Some say we are an evil, the harbinger of everything bad, the restraint on unlimited freedom, the key component in every evil that has ever existed. Others see the Church as a pleasant gathering place, where nothing much is required, where people can come to reflect and ponder in a peaceful atmosphere – you can even get wine and bread, and a pretty good cup of coffee afterward. Some see Church as an undefined path, a means by which we get to pick and choose what we believe. Some see the Church as a rigid structure of rules, leaders and followers, immeasurable and indiscernible doctrines. In the end, whether positive or negatively viewed, the world sees the Church as a menu of choices, choices and decisions that the world gets to make, a merely human institution.

Another alternative is found among those who mistake power for the Church. It is an alternative espoused by those who claim unique authority, an authority unknown to us, and to the Church of the first millennium. It is the error made by those who see Peter, and Peter alone, as the Church. In doing so they miss the Church. At worst they completely confuse Church and earthly power.

The proper choice is found in Jesus statement to Peter:

—Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.—

This is more than a choice. It is a blessed revelation and realization that the Church is something God provided for us. It is God’s creation, the Bride of Christ, the earthly presence of Christ, guided by the Holy Spirit, and with us as our mother.

Brothers and sisters,

If we realize that the Church is God’s creation, God’s spouse, and that it is guided by God we will clearly see something new. It is this: The Holy Church is the infallible guide and pathway to heaven. In adhering to the Church’s teaching, what Jesus allowed by giving the Church the keys to the kingdom and the power to loose and bind, we hold the truth. In adhering to the teaching of the Church as our obligation we draw ever closer to the reality of God’s Kingdom among men.

The Holy Church in its proclamation of the Gospel, in its teaching and preaching in accord with the Gospel and Tradition, in its witness to Christ, in its work among all men, in its gifts given from, through, and with the Holy Spirit, and in its continued action in opening up the graces given by our Lord into our care, opens to us the revelation of, and path back to, God. In our adhering to the Church’s teaching, in our believing and in our making the Church’s teaching our own teaching, even when we feel we cannot agree, we climb the narrow path to perfection. Through the Church we see as a goal, and move toward, a changed reality — our regeneration in faith. It is our walk home to heaven with our mother, our guide, at our side. This is the only reality that matters.

Friends,

You may ask, ‘Deacon, wasn’t Jesus asking about Himself in the Gospel, not the Church?—

I ask you to consider the words in John 1:14: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth

The Church is Jesus among us, full of grace and truth, dwelling here and now. The Church is Christ’s means of proclamation to the world and the way He has chosen to leave His presence in the world. The Church is the means by which He chose to bring about the Kingdom.

So to us. Our duty and obligation is to act in unity with the Church and her teaching authority. We don’t get to discount teachings because they are inconvenient, because ——we—— don’t agree, or because Her teaching doesn’t suit our particular tastes or informed opinion. Instead we must focus on our revealed mission, the light God has given us in proclaiming who Jesus really is:

—You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.—

This is a heavy burden on us, yet a beautiful burden with an ultimate reward. In our unity with the Church we have Jesus’ promise that what we are taught is true. We have His guarantee that what we do and what we teach, when doing and teaching what the Church teaches, is truth. Jesus has laid out a pathway and He has given the Church the tools and resources necessary to navigate that pathway. We have those tools and resources at our disposal as members of the Church.

Brothers and sisters,

The road to God is not easy. It has been referred to as the ancient path and the narrow road. The Prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 6:16) proclaimed:

Thus says the LORD:
“Stand by the roads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls.

In Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus tells us that the narrow path, the harder choice, is the correct choice, the choice that leads to life:

“Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

We are all plagued by doubt and uncertainty as to what we are doing. Some say that the doubts are less as you get older, but I’m not sure. We know that following the path to God, humbling ourselves to the will of God is difficult. We know that discipline is exceptionally hard. When confronted by those doubts, uncertainties, and the need for humility let us be reassured — God is with us along this narrow path, this ancient way. So let us set to conforming ourselves to what the Holy Church asks of us, even if… In doing so we will know the mind of the Lord and we will do His work. Amen.

Fathers, PNCC

August 24 – St. John Chrysostom from Homilies on Matthew

And wherefore did He not ask them at once their own opinion, but that of the people? In order that when they had told the people’s opinion, and then were asked, “But whom say ye that I am?” by the manner of His inquiry they might be led up to a sublimer notion, and not fall into the same low view as the multitude. Accordingly He asks them not at all in the beginning of His preaching, but when He had done many miracles, and had discoursed with them of many and high doctrines, and had afforded so many clear proofs of His Godhead, and of His unanimity with the Father, then He puts this question to them.

And He said not, “Whom say the Scribes and Pharisees that I am?” often as these had come unto Him, and discoursed with Him; but, “Whom do men say that I am?” inquiring after the judgment of the people, as unbiased. For though it was far meaner than it should be, yet was it free from malice, but the other was teeming with much wickedness.

And signifying how earnestly He desires His Economy to be confessed, He says, “The Son of Man;” thereby denoting His Godhead, which He does also in many other places. For He says, “No man has ascended up to Heaven, but the Son of Man, which is in Heaven.” And again, “But when you shall see the Son of Man ascend up, where He was before.”

Then, since they said, “Some John the Baptist, some Elias, some Jeremias, or one of the prophets,” and set forth their mistaken opinion, He next added, “But whom say ye that I am?” calling them on by His second inquiry to entertain some higher imagination concerning Him, and indicating that their former judgment falls exceedingly short of His dignity. Wherefore He seeks for another judgment from themselves, and puts a second question, that they might not fall in with the multitude, who, because they saw His miracles greater than human, accounted Him a man indeed, but one that had appeared after a resurrection, as Herod also said. But He, to lead them away from this notion, says, “But whom say ye that I am?” that is, “ye that are with me always, and see me working miracles, and have yourselves done many mighty works by me.” — Homily 54.

Perspective, Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political

When you just don’t have the time

I read with interest an article at LRC by Peter S. Rieth entitled Oh, Me! Me! Shoot Me! A Summary of Contemporary Polish Foreign Policy

I agree with Mr. Rieth’s key point, but wholeheartedly disagree with the method he uses to get there.

In the article he states:

Of course, when speaking of something as abstract as “national psychology” or “the character of a nation,” it must be remembered that we are speaking in generalities verging on stereotypes; that there is no such thing in fact as a “national psychology,” because a “nation” is a mere historical construct; like “ethnicity” itself. Nevertheless, it is often useful to engage the archetype of a “national psychology” to explain certain tendencies in popular thought and action; that is to say —“ in politics. What, then, is it, about Polish national psychology…

Politics is all about painting your enemy, whether a person or philosophy, in the worst possible light. This article simply bathes in the top propagandist models aimed at supporting Mr. Rieth’s arguments. After exposing a great basis for his argument Mr. Rieth seems to loose focus and makes a broad appeal to the Natavist leftovers still so much a part of the American culture. It is the appeal to the “all Poles, dumb Pollacks, they got it with their mother’s milk” way of thinking. The article paints Poles as a corporate unity – all thinking, acting, and believing in the same way. Of course that argument appeals to his target audience especially when it is couched in Mr. Rieth’s brief allusion to ‘well I don’t mean everybody’ and ‘hey I’m a Pole too so I know what I’m talking about.’

His disavowal of stereotyping in the excerpt above doesn’t cut it. Mr. Rieth relies far too heavily on the idea of national consciousness, nationalism, national mythology, with a quick cross-reference to National Socialism throughout his article. He lost his way in writing this article when he failed to grasp the key point he made in saying: “…there is no such thing as a homogeneous understanding of human history.”

I have experienced the broad spectrum of Poland. It is old and new Polonia, it is cities and villages, conservative, moderate, and liberal. It is far from singular in its aspirations and thoughts. Its people are diverse and represent the best and worst in humanity, and everything in-between. Even for all its touted Roman Catholic conservatism its pew dwellers perceive even those matters differently.

What we can understand, and what would have made a better argument, is that governments make good and bad choices and that there are wise and poor leaders. We see flag waving, baby kissing leaders who fail to set a vision for the future as well as those with their sights on the future (take a listen to Lech Wałęsa when he speaks on the interconnectedness of societies, or Jerzy Surdykowski when he speaks on European history – the long view). We see leaders who sell the well being of their country on the cheap as well as those that stand on core principals. We see leaders who take the lessons of history into account in building policy and those whose history is nothing more than chauvinistic fantasy. Each country has its own mixture of these and heaven knows the U.S. has been plagued of late.

Mr. Rieth may want to attempt this exercise and develop an article on the national consciousness of the United States. What leads us to making such bad choices in leaders? Are we an amalgam of “keeping up with the Jones'” and to heck with everything important? It cannot be done, or at least not without too broad of a brush stroke. Those too broad brush strokes destroy the soundness of many an argument.

For my part I would encourage Mr. Rieth to rely on patience in building out his articles. He should avoid painting peoples in such a homogeneous fashion. In taking that route he is not serving intellectual curiosity, good journalism, or a sound call to change. He is just hurting his point: Poland sells itself on the cheap to the United States for the air of safety, one which doesn’t exist (see the Young Fogey’s citation of this article) and in doing so lessens its soundness and security.

The street, and the people of Poland get it, or at least a percentage of the population does. The same street moved away from the destructive tendencies of the Kaczynski twins. You cannot fool the population, in Poland, the U.S., or elsewhere forever, because enough of them see through the disguise. Sound arguments help in achieving better ends, in achieving political change. Please reconstruct your argument.

Fathers, PNCC

August 23 – St. Cyprian of Carthage from the Epistles of Cyprian

Cyprian to Caldonius, his brother, greeting. We have received your letter, beloved brother, which is abundantly sensible, and full of honesty and faith. Nor do we wonder that, skilled and exercised as you are in the Scriptures of the Lord, you do everything discreetly and wisely. You have judged quite correctly about granting peace to our brethren, which they, by true penitence and by the glory of a confession of the Lord, have restored to themselves, being justified by their words, by which before they had condemned themselves. Since, then, they have washed away all their sin, and their former stain, by the help of the Lord, has been done away by a more powerful virtue, they ought not to lie any longer under the power of the devil, as it were, prostrate; when, being banished and deprived of all their property, they have lifted themselves up and have begun to stand with Christ. And I wish that the others also would repent after their fall, and be transferred into their former condition; and that you may know how we have dealt with these, in their urgent and eager rashness and importunity to extort peace, I have sent a book to you, with letters to the number of five, that I wrote to the clergy and to the people, and to the martyrs also and confessors, which letters have already been sent to many of our colleagues, and have satisfied them; and they replied that they also agree with me in the same opinion according to the Catholic faith; which very thing do you also communicate to as many of our colleagues as you can, that among all these, may be observed one mode of action and one agreement, according to the Lord’s precepts. I bid you, beloved brother, ever heartily farewell. — The Epistle of Cyprian in reply to Caldonius.

Fathers, PNCC

August 22 – St. Cyprian of Carthage from the Epistles of Cyprian

Let us confirm one another by mutual exhortations, and let us more and more go forward in the Lord; so that when of His mercy He shall have made that peace which He promises to give, we may return to the Church new and almost changed men, and may be received, whether by our brethren or by the heathen, in all things corrected and renewed for the better; and those who formerly admired our glory in our courage may now admire the discipline in our lives. I bid you, beloved brethren, ever heartily farewell; and be mindful of me. — Paragraph 6 from the Epistle of Cyprian to Rogatianus the Presbyter, and the Other Confessors.

Fathers, PNCC

August 21 – St. Cyprian of Carthage from the Treatises of Cyprian

As I am about to speak, beloved brethren, of patience, and to declare its advantages and benefits, from what point should I rather begin than this, that I see that even at this time, for your audience of me, patience is needful, as you cannot even discharge this duty of hearing and learning without patience? For wholesome discourse and reasoning are then effectually learned, if what is said be patiently heard. Nor do I find, beloved brethren, among the rest of the ways of heavenly discipline wherein the path of our hope and faith is directed to the attainment of the divine rewards, anything of more advantage, either as more useful for life or more helpful to glory, than that we who are laboring in the precepts of the Lord with the obedience of fear and devotion, should especially, with our whole watchfulness, be careful of patience. — Treatise 9.

Fathers, PNCC

August 20 – St. Gregory the Great from the Epistles of Gregory the Great

Gregory, servant of the servants of God, to the servants of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Since it had been better not to have begun what is good than to return back from it when begun, you must, most beloved sons, fulfill the good work which with the help of the Lord you have begun. Let, then, neither the toil of the journey nor the tongues of evil-speaking men deter you; but with all instancy and all fervor go on with what under God’s guidance you have commenced, knowing that great toil is followed by the glory of an eternal reward. Obey in all things humbly Augustine your provost (præposito), who is returning to you, whom we also appoint your abbot, knowing that whatever may be fulfilled in you through his admonition will in all ways profit your souls. May Almighty God protect you with His grace, and grant to me to see the fruit of your labor in the eternal country; that so, even though I cannot labor with you, I may be found together with you in the joy of the reward; for in truth I desire to labor. God keep you safe, most beloved sons. Given the tenth day of the Kalends of August, the fourteenth year of the Emperor our lord Mauricius Tiberius, the most pious Augustus, the thirteenth year of the consulship of our said lord, Indiction 14. — Book VI, Letter 51, from Gregory, Bishop of Rome to the Brethren going to England (Angliam).

Fathers, PNCC

August 19 – St. Gregory the Great from the Epistles of Gregory the Great

The tenor of your letters, which evinces a religious spirit and the earnestness of a pious mind, causes us not only to commend the purpose of your request, but also to grant willingly what you demand. For indeed it would ill become us to refuse what Christian devotion and the desire of an upright heart solicits, especially as we know that you demand, and embrace with your whole heart, what may both protect the faith of believers, and work no less the salvation of souls. Accordingly, greeting your Excellency with befitting honour, we inform you that to Leuparic, the bearer of these presents, through whom we received your communication, and whom you described as a presbyter, we have handed over, according to your Excellency’s request, with the reverence due to them, certain relics of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul. But, that laudable and religious devotion may be more and more conspicuous among you, you must see that these benefits of the saints be deposited with reverence and due honor, and that those who serve in attendance on them be vexed with no burdens or molestations, lest perchance, under the pressure of outward necessity, they be rendered unprofitable and slow in the service of God, and (which God forbid) the benefits of the saints that have been bestowed sustain injury and neglect. Let, then, your Excellency see to their quiet, to the end that, while they are guarded by your bounty from all disquietude, they may render praises to our God with minds undisturbed, and that reward may also accrue to you in the life eternal. — Book VI, Letter 50, from Gregory, Bishop of Rome to Brunichild, Queen of the Franks.

Fathers, PNCC

August 18 – St. Gregory the Great from the Epistles of Gregory the Great

Let, therefore, your solicitude towards your subjects be worthy of praise. Let discipline be exhibited with gentleness. Let rebuke be with discernment. Let kindness mitigate wrath; let zeal sharpen kindness: and let one be so seasoned with the other that neither immoderate punishment afflict more than it ought, nor again laxity impair the rectitude of discipline. Let the conduct of your Fraternity be a lesson to the people committed to you. Let them see in you what to love, and perceive what to make haste to imitate. Let them be taught how to live by your example. Let them not deviate from the straight course through your leading; let them find their way to God by following you; that so you may receive as many rewards from the Savior of the human race as you shall have won souls for Him. Labor therefore, most dear brother, and so direct the whole activity of your heart and soul, that you may hereafter be counted worthy to hear, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: enter thou into the joy of your Lord. — Book V, Letter 57 from Gregory, Bishop of Rome to John, Bishop of the Corinthians.

Homilies,

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

First reading: Isaiah 56:1,6-7
Psalm: Ps 67:2-3,5,6-8
Epistle: Romans 11:13-15,29-32
Gospel: Matthew 15:21-28

for my house shall be called
a house of prayer for all peoples.

Today we face lessons that are both off-putting and welcoming. We come to meet Jesus and find that He is full of conflict like that.

We try to understand Jesus in various ways. At certain points in our life we reach a comfortable place. I get Jesus. I see what He was trying to say, how He was trying to teach. Then we reach a conclusion. We place Jesus into a category that works for us.

Jesus is my brother.
Jesus is my teacher.
Jesus is my savior.
Jesus is my friend.
Jesus is my confidant.
Jesus is my healer.
Jesus is my judge.

We could spend a day walking through the Litany of the Holy Name. We could spend a lifetime studying Christology – the names and roles of Jesus. Whatever the approach, we place Jesus into a category that works for us.

Then, certain readings and especially a certain number of the Gospels come along and turn that notion, that category, on its head. Today is like that.

the woman came and did Jesus homage, saying, —Lord, help me.—
He said in reply,
—It is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs.—

Wait — did Jesus just call this woman a dog? Did He imply that she was somehow sub-human? Did He refuse to help at her plea, as she probably lay prostrate before Him, sobbing and weeping, worried for her daughter, and at the end of her rope?

Wow!

There goes the notions of Jesus as brother, teacher, savior, healer, friend, and confidant. There goes our tidy Jesus corner. That category that worked so well for us — it’s down the tube, or at least has been upset quite a bit.

Now there are a few of us for whom this Jesus fits very nicely. Yeah, we like this Jesus – judgmental, angry, mean, put ’em in their place Jesus. No soup for you Canaanite. A few would say: —Thankfully, a reading that finally puts my notion of Jesus front and center. Angry Jesus works for me.—

Brothers and sisters,

Not one of these is correct because Jesus cannot be a tidy corner in our lives. Jesus doesn’t fit into our lives nicely and cleanly. Jesus upsets every notion we have and every category we have created. Recall in Matthew 10:34 Jesus says:

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.—

This is a sword of destruction. It destroys everything we think, believe, and hold dear. It destroys our notions, our thoughts, the ways we categorize, because none of this is based on the salvation of Jesus, but rather on our tendency to sin, to make ourselves comfortable at the expense of Jesus and His Gospel.

Jesus brought the sword so that He could tear us down, so that He could make us uncomfortable in complacency. In doing that He offers the one thing we truly desire, but are afraid to ask for – over-reaching mercy.

Friends,

Something happened to this Canaanite woman in the region of Tyre and Sidon.

What we know is that she came and called out. It is likely that she had been pestering the disciples for some time else they would not have said: —Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.— She kept at it and finally threw herself down in front of Jesus.

I think she had a tidy explanation for Jesus too. Jesus is my healer. She came with her cries, her long pleading, and her tidy explanation, and laying there she might well have thought – this prophet just called me a dog. Yet, even after all the calling, the sobbing, the pleas, and the groveling, topped off by Jesus’ refusal to help, something amazing happened.

The Canaanite woman changed. She asked for over-reaching mercy. Her notion of Jesus was suddenly and irrevocably changed and the light of faith dawned.

Then Jesus said to her in reply,
—O woman, great is your faith!—

We need to change our notion of Jesus. We need to change into the people Isaiah saw.

The foreigners who join themselves to the LORD,
ministering to him,
loving the name of the LORD,
and 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

We are all foreigners in the Kingdom. Like the Canaanite woman we keep crying and pleading. We come to church and we humble ourselves, and still, all seems silent. Life is difficult. The little compartment we created for Jesus is broken and we can’t find the answer.

Like the Gentiles of old we are foreigners on the outside. We are being put-off. Grace keeps working at us until we see, and in that moment we will recognize God’s absolute, all powerful, over-reaching mercy. We will be pulled inside. When the light of faith dawns in our lives, when we call for over-reaching mercy, it will be given to us. We will hear Jesus say: —great is your faith!—

Then everything will change. Jesus will be all-in-all in our lives. His word will take precedence. His name will be our only hope. Sin will die, hopelessness will end, and healing will occur. There will be no compartments. Grace will be in our lives in all its fullness. We will live and act as children of God, in the house of the Lord. Amen.

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