1 May 2011
I would like to tell you a story for you of a mother and daughter: the daughter (15 years old) ran away from home to seek what the bright lights of the city had to offer and Mom went looking for her. Mom posted a picture of herself everywhere she went with a note on the back. She never found her daughter and went back home after her money ran out. A month later, her daughter, after finding that her new life was miserable and a trap, she saw a picture of her mother taped to a mirror. On the back was a note that said: "Whatever you have done, whatever you have become, it doesn't matter. Please come home."
We all have a similar story. One in which we think we know best and take off and then find out how little we actually know. Then our pride gets in the way and we think we’re stuck. No one will take us back because of what we have done: we are unforgiveable.
As God’s people we are called to trust in the mercy of Jesus.
In today’s Gospel we are told that when Jesus appeared in the upper room to the 10 his first words were: “Peace be with you.” He said this not once but twice. Why?
He wanted those 10 to have his peace. They were probably as shocked as they could be to see him standing in their midst, behind closed and locked doors. Then, upon recovering somewhat, they probably started remembering the details of the events of the past Thursday and Friday. How they all ran away and abandoned him in his worst hour or his hour of most need of human friendship. Peter even denied he knew him. Some friends! So, I would imagine there was some guilt upon seeing Jesus. When our human limitations are confronted by divine presence we sense just how imperfect we really are and then we understand our need for mercy.
How do we react when we realize we have sinned? Do we have peace, Christ’s peace? I don’t think so. There is guilt and remorse and maybe a question for ourselves from our self: “Why did I do that? I am a jerk!” Or, a conditional, “I must be a jerk!”
So, the 10 are standing there in their jerkiness and Jesus says “peace.” Our translation says “Peace be with you.” The Greek says “peace to you.” Peace is already among them – Jesus, just as he is among us. We have him here in the tabernacle and Father will soon make Divine Mercy himself present on the altar. In a few minutes we will receive him: body, blood, soul and divinity. We will receive Divine Mercy himself. The Eucharist is not a reward for those who are holy; it is the real bread of life for all of us who are on the journey. In this receiving Divine Mercy all of our venial sins are forgiven (CCC 1394-1395). Our unconfessed mortal sins are not and, if we have any mortal sins, we shouldn’t be receiving him anyway without having confessed those sins.
Then Jesus tells them “as the Father has sent me, I send you” and breathes on them. Is this not the Trinitarian breath of Divine Mercy?
This breathing is reminiscent of the creation story in Genesis where God breathed into the clay of Adam and made him alive. Jesus breathes on the 11 and makes them new and he gives the Holy Spirit. This is John’s version of Pentecost (footnote on 20:22 NAB).
In his breathing on the 11 Jesus gives them the Holy Spirit and the power to forgive sin. This power to forgive sin is a continuance of Jesus’ saving and redemptive act of Good Friday. It is a continuance of the Divine Mercy of the Old Testament and today, the 2nd Sunday of Easter, that is, Divine Mercy Sunday, is our day to take advantage of this new Pentecost.
When we go to confession we experience the continuance of the Divine Mercy of Good Friday. We fall: we are helped up. This is the story of the Old Testament. The Israelites constantly are redeemed, forgiven by God and they constantly reject him and then, rediscover his goodness, his mercy. We do the same… and when we partake of the grace of the Sacrament of Reconciliation we are redeemed and rediscover Divine Mercy. We daily sin, we daily reject God’s love – we substitute our will for his, and we are redeemed and forgiven by God’s mercy, if we but ask. Is it no wonder that in today’s Responsorial Psalm we acclaim, “his mercy endures forever”! Trust in God’s mercy.
As we receive the mercy of God, we are then also commanded to be merciful to others. If we aren’t, we will not receive God’s mercy. In Matthew, chapter 5 verse 7 we are told: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.” This means we should be the first to extend mercy to our brothers and sisters. We should be the one to dispense mercy, our mercy. Be merciful, just as (also) your Father is merciful (Luke 6:36). We cannot run from this part of Divine Mercy. Trust in the mercy of Jesus!
“Mercy”, or merciful, appears in the Bible a total of 238 times. One might wonder where I am going with this, but bear with me. I used the Ignatian Bible. I choose that one because it doesn’t have a lot in the way of explanation, footnotes study guides and so on. That bible totals 1,065 pages, plus or minus a few. If we divide the number of times “mercy”, or it’s equivalent appears, into 1,065 we get an answer of 4.47. Amazing! The word “mercy”, or something like it, would, statistically, appear every 4 and a half pages in the Bible. I think God is trying to tell us something here! Mercy is very important for us. Trust in His mercy!
I would like for all of us to try this exercise. It’s called the ABC's of mercy: A = ask for God's mercy through confession, B = be merciful as we are commanded to be and do and C = Completely trust in Jesus and he will give us his grace and send us to be ambassadors of his mercy just as he sent the 11.
So, as in the story of the mother taping her picture everywhere she went in looking for her daughter, Jesus is God's picture taped to the cross, inviting us to come home, come home from whatever we have done, from whatever we have become, it doesn’t matter, please come home so his mercy can save us from the power of sin.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
The Passion Narrative (3)- Good Friday (Chanted)
The final You Tube video of the Passion Narrative, according to John for Good Friday.
Please get to the nearest church to commemorate this Sacred Event (also, please put your mouse over the title and the link will become active)!
Please get to the nearest church to commemorate this Sacred Event (also, please put your mouse over the title and the link will become active)!
The Passion Narrative (2)- Good Friday (Chanted)
Please put your mouse over the title and the link will become active.
The Passion Narrative (1)- Good Friday (Chanted)
Please put your mouse over the title and the link will become active.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Friday, November 19, 2010
Last Class of Formation
Tomorrow I attend the last class of our academic formation journey. Yea!!!!!!
Next week, Thanksgiving week, we start our 5 day Ordination retreat. It commences Thanksgiving Day night.
Nancy will be with me for this retreat and we are really looking forward to it as Archbishop Alfred Hughes, recently retired Archbishop of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, the only Archdiocese in the world to have four living Archbishops in residence, is giving the retreat. This really ought to be special!
I really love that man, along with Archbishop Philip Hannan, now 97 years young and still celebrating Mass, with a little help from his friends!
More to post after retreat!
Next week, Thanksgiving week, we start our 5 day Ordination retreat. It commences Thanksgiving Day night.
Nancy will be with me for this retreat and we are really looking forward to it as Archbishop Alfred Hughes, recently retired Archbishop of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, the only Archdiocese in the world to have four living Archbishops in residence, is giving the retreat. This really ought to be special!
I really love that man, along with Archbishop Philip Hannan, now 97 years young and still celebrating Mass, with a little help from his friends!
More to post after retreat!
Saturday, November 13, 2010
10 Reasons Why Modernist Christianity Will Die
A copy of a post from Father Dwight Longenecker at his blog: "Standing on My Head."
Thursday, November 11, 2010
10 Reasons Why Modernist Christianity Will Die
Modernist Christianity must eventually die or cease to be Christian. At this time modernism still wears Christian clothes in the mainstream Protestant churches and in parts of the Catholic Church. This cannot last much longer for some very simple reasons:
1. Modernists deny supernaturalism and therefore they are not really religious. Now by 'religion' I mean a transacton with the supernatural. Religion (whether it is primitive people jumping around a campfire or a Solemn High Mass in a Catholic Cathedral) is about an interchange with the other world. It is about salvation of souls, redemption of sin, heaven, hell damnation, the afterlife, angels and demons and all that stuff.
Modernists don't deal in all that. For them religion is a matter of fighting for equal rights, making the world a better place, being kind to everyone and 'spirituality'. It doesn't take very long for people to realize that you don't have to go to church for that. So people stop going, and that eventually means the death of modernist Christianity. The first generation of modernist Christians will attend church regularly. The second will attend church sometimes. The third almost never. The fourth and fifth will not see any need for worship. They will conclude that if religion is no more than good works, then the religious ritual is redundant.
2. Modernism is essentially individualist and not communal. Each person makes up his own mind about matters. Therefore when it comes to religion the fissiparous nature of modernist religion will become more and more acute. Individuals with firm opinions will form ever smaller and more passionate groups with like minded people and the smaller the groups, the more they will eventually wither and die.
3. Modernism is also subjective and sentimentalist. It eschews doctrine and favors individual spirituality and sentimental responses to doctrines and moral issues. It is not long, therefore, before the individualist and sentimentalist inclinations drive a person from a church that is dogmatic and demanding. Modernists will prefer their own spirituality and emotional experiences to any sort of formal, corporate religious commitment. Thus the modern admission, "I'm interested in spritituality but not religion." When this attitude prevails, modernist religion dies because it's devotees don't see the point of belonging and believing.
4. Modernism is historically revisionist. They re-write history according to their prejudices. In religious terms this means they are cut off from tradition. They are therefore cut off from the life-stream of real religion. As they cut themselves off from the tradition they will only have the latest religious gimmick, fad or adaptation to contemporary culture. Such an ephemeral attitude cannot provide for long term sustained religious longevity.
5. Modernists contracept and abort. They don't have enough children to train up in their religion, and those children they do have are often taught that freedom of choice is a higher virtue than commitment or duty in religion. So they will lose the next generation to either real religion or paganism.
6. Modernism makes no great demands for its devotees to be religious. Ask any modernist, "Why should I come to Church?" What would he answer? "You don't have to come to church. It's there if you want it. If it does you good, and makes you feel better, we're here to serve you." Modernist Catholic priests wring their hands and wonder why no one comes to Mass anymore. It's because for forty years they've been saying, "It's not really a mortal sin to miss Mass. You should come because you love God, not because you fear him." While this sentiment may be laudable, they shouldn't therefore be surprised if no one comes to Mass.
7. The modernist himself does not really understand why anyone should be religious. He started out as a religious man believing in sin, redemption and the supernaturalist story. He became modernist gradually and all the time continued his religious practice, but he has never stopped to ask why such a thing should be necessary. If he is honest and asks himself the question he will soon stop the practice of his religion too. Unless, of course, he is a clergyman. If he is a religious professional he would have to get another job, so it is easier to keep the show on the road.
8. Modernists allow for moral degeneracy and that saps the strength out of real religion. Devotees of all supernaturalist religions demand moral purity, self discipline and restraint. Real religion requires self discipline. The modernist sees religion not as self denial but self fulfillment. Hedonists will soon realize that religion--even in its watered down modernist form--is not worth the trouble.
9. Modernists aren't actually much fun. In my experience they're a joyless lot, always on some sort of serious, smug and self righteous campaign, not infrequently with a whiff of the conspiracy theorist about them. That can't last.
10. Modernists are dull. They've so little imagination and are so literal about everything. They do not rejoice over the seeming absurdity or the truly radical demands of religion. In fact, they are frightfully respectable. They always go with the crowd, especially if that crowd pretends to be 'radical' or 'subversive' in a 'chattering classes' kind of way. Respectability is the kiss of death to real religion, and bourgeois radicalism is really the pits.
So, what will happen to modernist Christianity? It will die out or cease to be Christian. The un-Christian forms this will, unfortunately, still borrow Christian terminology and customs, but like some horrid fantastic beast, it will continue to transmogrify into ever more monstrous forms while still continuing to dress in a Christian costume.
These horrors are already with us on the fringe of modernist religion. Expect them to become even more mainstream.
1. Modernists deny supernaturalism and therefore they are not really religious. Now by 'religion' I mean a transacton with the supernatural. Religion (whether it is primitive people jumping around a campfire or a Solemn High Mass in a Catholic Cathedral) is about an interchange with the other world. It is about salvation of souls, redemption of sin, heaven, hell damnation, the afterlife, angels and demons and all that stuff.
Modernists don't deal in all that. For them religion is a matter of fighting for equal rights, making the world a better place, being kind to everyone and 'spirituality'. It doesn't take very long for people to realize that you don't have to go to church for that. So people stop going, and that eventually means the death of modernist Christianity. The first generation of modernist Christians will attend church regularly. The second will attend church sometimes. The third almost never. The fourth and fifth will not see any need for worship. They will conclude that if religion is no more than good works, then the religious ritual is redundant.
2. Modernism is essentially individualist and not communal. Each person makes up his own mind about matters. Therefore when it comes to religion the fissiparous nature of modernist religion will become more and more acute. Individuals with firm opinions will form ever smaller and more passionate groups with like minded people and the smaller the groups, the more they will eventually wither and die.
3. Modernism is also subjective and sentimentalist. It eschews doctrine and favors individual spirituality and sentimental responses to doctrines and moral issues. It is not long, therefore, before the individualist and sentimentalist inclinations drive a person from a church that is dogmatic and demanding. Modernists will prefer their own spirituality and emotional experiences to any sort of formal, corporate religious commitment. Thus the modern admission, "I'm interested in spritituality but not religion." When this attitude prevails, modernist religion dies because it's devotees don't see the point of belonging and believing.
4. Modernism is historically revisionist. They re-write history according to their prejudices. In religious terms this means they are cut off from tradition. They are therefore cut off from the life-stream of real religion. As they cut themselves off from the tradition they will only have the latest religious gimmick, fad or adaptation to contemporary culture. Such an ephemeral attitude cannot provide for long term sustained religious longevity.
5. Modernists contracept and abort. They don't have enough children to train up in their religion, and those children they do have are often taught that freedom of choice is a higher virtue than commitment or duty in religion. So they will lose the next generation to either real religion or paganism.
6. Modernism makes no great demands for its devotees to be religious. Ask any modernist, "Why should I come to Church?" What would he answer? "You don't have to come to church. It's there if you want it. If it does you good, and makes you feel better, we're here to serve you." Modernist Catholic priests wring their hands and wonder why no one comes to Mass anymore. It's because for forty years they've been saying, "It's not really a mortal sin to miss Mass. You should come because you love God, not because you fear him." While this sentiment may be laudable, they shouldn't therefore be surprised if no one comes to Mass.
7. The modernist himself does not really understand why anyone should be religious. He started out as a religious man believing in sin, redemption and the supernaturalist story. He became modernist gradually and all the time continued his religious practice, but he has never stopped to ask why such a thing should be necessary. If he is honest and asks himself the question he will soon stop the practice of his religion too. Unless, of course, he is a clergyman. If he is a religious professional he would have to get another job, so it is easier to keep the show on the road.
8. Modernists allow for moral degeneracy and that saps the strength out of real religion. Devotees of all supernaturalist religions demand moral purity, self discipline and restraint. Real religion requires self discipline. The modernist sees religion not as self denial but self fulfillment. Hedonists will soon realize that religion--even in its watered down modernist form--is not worth the trouble.
9. Modernists aren't actually much fun. In my experience they're a joyless lot, always on some sort of serious, smug and self righteous campaign, not infrequently with a whiff of the conspiracy theorist about them. That can't last.
10. Modernists are dull. They've so little imagination and are so literal about everything. They do not rejoice over the seeming absurdity or the truly radical demands of religion. In fact, they are frightfully respectable. They always go with the crowd, especially if that crowd pretends to be 'radical' or 'subversive' in a 'chattering classes' kind of way. Respectability is the kiss of death to real religion, and bourgeois radicalism is really the pits.
So, what will happen to modernist Christianity? It will die out or cease to be Christian. The un-Christian forms this will, unfortunately, still borrow Christian terminology and customs, but like some horrid fantastic beast, it will continue to transmogrify into ever more monstrous forms while still continuing to dress in a Christian costume.
These horrors are already with us on the fringe of modernist religion. Expect them to become even more mainstream.
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