An Anathema or Two to Clear the Air

 

SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

21-22 May 2022

Acts 15:1-2, 22-29

Rv 21:10-14, 22-23

Jn 14:23-29

 

Praised by Jesus Christ!

         From the Acts of the Apostles today we read about the decision taken by the very first Council of the Church held at Jerusalem not to impose the Jewish custom or rule of circumcision on the new Gentile Christians. When asked to resolve the controversy which had arisen over whether the observance of all the Old Testament precepts was required of non-Jewish converts, the elders of the community of Jerusalem wrote back to the Church at Antioch. Their response began with the words: “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us…” The Apostles could not have been clearer in expressing themselves in their letter. They were deciding the case brought to them by appealing to the authority of God. “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us…” God was speaking through them; they claimed the authority of the Holy Spirit for the decision which was properly their own as those who presided over the Church at its beginnings, after Christ’s Ascension into Heaven and the coming of the Holy Spirit.

        Governance is no small or easy matter. You may have picked up on the news that just yesterday the Most Reverend Salvatore Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco, announced that he was banning Speaker Nancy Pelosi from receiving Holy Communion until such time as she publicly renounces her pro-abortion stance, repents of her great sin of pushing her agenda in Congress and seeks reconciliation with the Church through Penance and sacramental Absolution. We’ll have to see if Pelosi comes back to the Church or not. But no matter what she does, thanks to the clarity of the Archbishop’s statement and his respectful but firm stance, everyone else in the Church should be confident in what is to be expected of a Catholic in terms of respect for innocent human life. No one has the right (so-called) to take the life of a child born or not yet born.  

Abortion is only the most obvious of a whole series of controversies which need resolution by means of clear teaching from the successors of the Apostles according to the mind of God. It appears, however, that both inside and outside the Church today wisdom and courage seem to be in short supply among our leaders. We are sadly in need of much more from the Church hierarchy in faithfulness to Christ. Decisiveness of action on the part of our leaders is an all too rare commodity, as the happy example of Archbishop Cordileone points out.

Part of their hesitancy may be explained by the lack of responsiveness among the lay faithful to their leaders’ teaching and directions. Some would try and justify this opposition to authority in the Church by shaking their heads and saying, “No way! Whether the problem is one of Church discipline, of morality, or of the faith itself, I don’t want any priest or bishop quoting the Catechism or some Church document and telling me what to do!” Typically, people often do not seem to like taking orders. Or they may seem to think that majority votes can settle most everything, even if the vote comes out contrary to God’s law. “Dialogue” is the catch word you hear in lots of Church circles, and just about everything appears to be up for discussion. In Germany or in Switzerland today the Church establishment and quite a few lay people would just bristle or fume at the words from the Book of Acts: “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us…” Honestly, it is not uncommon even here in the United States to encounter Catholics who would assert that appealing to God for the authority of our commands is a bit too much to claim. Granted there are some people who are just as rebellious as we read about in the Book of Genesis. In Adam and Eve fashion they do not stop at challenging people set over them in the Church. Fundamentally they reject God’s authority flat out (Gen. 3:2-5 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”). Perhaps more common however is a kind of foot dragging or hunching our shoulders, being less than eager to place ourselves without reserve under God’s law. In this lawless world, everything tends to get relativized or flattened. There is a kind of stubbornness or resentfulness which holds back or refuses to take anyone’s authority without a challenge. Then too, people do not seem to be ready to take the path less traveled through life and refuse to live heroically by following in the footsteps of our loving Lord and Savior.

Sometimes, I suppose, it is simply wanting to have a say or to have the last word on certain topics. Ultimately though, the question is not whether the Pope or a Bishop is drawing me into the decision-making process, whether he is listening to me or taking my input into consideration, but whether we can have confidence in those who are speaking. “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us…” We may have reason to doubt whether a given priest or bishop is truly acting on God’s behalf, whether what he says or does truly reflects faithfulness to God within His Church. Nonetheless I cannot offhandedly reject all Church authority.

The rebelliousness we encounter is a rejection of the Holy Spirit in favor of the spirit of the age. To say it more simply, too often we just follow the crowd while turning our backs on God as He speaks to us through His Church. We are caught up in the prevailing world view which overvalues self-indulgence at worst, and perhaps not much better promotes or insists upon things like so-called social progress or future orientation. Such are not categories for believers, whereas faithfulness to tradition is. We are called, for love of God, to be faithful to Christ, to conform our will to His, as it is mediated by those within the Church possessing and properly exercising legitimate authority.

The big question, of course, is how does that work? Jesus in St. John’s Gospel today could not be clearer. “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me.”

        Keeping God’s word, by very simply obeying Him, by conforming my will to that of the Almighty! How do we do that? There’s an ancient legend about St. John the Evangelist, the only one of the original twelve Apostles to live to an advanced age and not die a martyr. The older he got, the more St. John limited his teaching of the faith to repeating the two great Commandments: you shall love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. The Evangelist clearly understood that by holding faithfully to these two, the Christian would be fulfilling everything contained in the Law and the Prophets. “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us…”

        Praised by Jesus Christ!

PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI

Unconditional Love through Unqualified Contrition and Penance without Reservation

 

Fourth Sunday after Easter

15 May 2022, St. Dominic, Canton

James 1.17-21

John 16.5-14

 

Praised be Jesus Christ!

        Already on this Sunday the Easter Season shifts its focus over from the accounts of the appearances of the Risen Lord Jesus to thinking about the why and the wherefore of Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, which is now just three weeks away. In some ways, you might say that this Sunday stands at a high point on the road, looking back to Easter and forward to Pentecost and affirming our empowerment by God’s holy will to be that new creation in holiness and truth, not anxiously grasping at anything or clenching our fists but simply being filled with God’s light and being born in newness of life by His word of truth.

St. John’s Gospel today sums up in just two sentences the essence of what is at stake in the great mystery we are called to ponder on this our day of rest.

“But I tell you the truth: it is expedient to you that I go, for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you: but if I go, I will send Him to you. And when He is come, He will convince the world of sin and of justice and of judgment.”

        We can see the Easter Alleluia blossoming into the fire of Pentecost and thereby empowering us to cooperate in heaven’s work of renewing all things on earth for the glory of God’s holy Name. We find ourselves very much at the center of events in being called to bring forth our genuine sorrow for sin, to amend of lives, and to make reparation for our sins and offenses both for our own sakes and for the sake of the life of the world.

        One of the mistaken impressions we often have growing up is to think that those we read about in the Gospels, who lived back in His time, those who followed Jesus in this life, had some great advantage over us. I am not saying that the Lord’s closest followers didn’t have a privilege which is not ours, namely of coming to know Jesus in the flesh. It is understandable that we envy the kind of life in Christ which His followers experienced back in His own day and time. We may tend to see our share in Christ’s life as less real or less intense than that of the Apostles and the disciples and women who accompanied Jesus through His public ministry, who were with Him in His suffering and death on the Cross all the way to the joy of His Resurrection from the dead. But we would not be justified or excused in doing so. That is not the teaching of Christ. Our Catholic Faith teaches us that this impression of our being at a disadvantage because we are separated from Him by nearly two millennia is just that, it is just an impression. The Gospel for Divine Mercy Sunday makes that eminently clear. “Because thou hast seen Me, Thomas, thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen and have believed.”

        Our faith may be centered on Christ, but in the fullest sense by the Divine will our faith is Trinitarian. We are indeed marked by the Sign of the Cross, which we make In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. We live out our faith in the One God in Three Divine Persons within the community of the Church founded by Christ. “But I tell you the truth: it is expedient to you that I go, for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you: but if I go, I will send Him to you.”

A discovery which I made a lot of years ago was that included in the supplementary documentation to the Roman Catechism published especially for parish priests by the Council of Trent there is contained an Index of all the Sunday Gospels included in the traditional Missal. Each Sunday’s Gospel passage is noted in this Index with specific references to the Catechism. For centuries, priests who held faithfully to this Index in preparing their Sunday sermons could practically get their congregation through the whole Catechism in the course of a year’s preaching at Sunday Mass.

        For the passage from the Gospel of St. John assigned to this 4^th Sunday after Easter, the Index in the back of the Catechism references the two sentences I just quoted and notes the relative sections of the Catechism dealing with the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity and the Sacrament of Penance.

        It is the second sentence I quoted which interests me today. In the relative section of the Catechism treating the Sacrament of Penance it refers especially to our need for sincere contrition for our sins both great and small. It addresses our need daily to be voluntarily doing acts of penance in reparation for what we have done or have failed to do against God and our neighbor. “And when He is come, He will convince the world of sin and of justice and of judgment.”

        Our faith would have us reject all in our lives that is of sin. We are exhorted to detest every sin for love of the Creator Who made us for His love, to detest all sin for love of the Savior Who ransomed us from sin and death by His Most Precious Blood.

        Let me leave you some homework for your quiet time on this Lord’s Day, this day of rest, this day which is yours in so far as you keep it with the Lord. In the light of the Catechism and of its references to St. Thomas Aquinas and to St. Augustine, and to the teaching of the Council of Trent, my question for you to ponder would be this: Can you honestly say you detest all that is of sin in your life? Is there some part of your life that you are failing to reform? Some place where you are holding out on God’s law? Keeping the laws and commandments to 99% is not enough. Your holdout undermines all the rest and renders your love of God, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength something less than honest or complete.

        I can remember two novelists over the years being recommended to me by two different superiors who made me the gift to read of a classic novel by each author. Both books ended up in the trash and for the same reason. The protagonist in both cases was supposed to have an intimate relationship with God and enjoy all kinds of spiritual favors. The books described their respective heroes as having some sort of mystical union or communion with God, as enjoying special favor and protection by the Almighty. At the same time, however, these novelists would have the reader believe this to be true even though both heroes regularly violated the 6^th and 9^th Commandments. Into the trash! One grievous sin puts us at odds with God on all fronts and fallen from grace all around for lack of true love of the Lord. The first and greatest command, to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength admits of no reservations or compromises.

        The Catechism this Sunday urges us to a genuine hatred of all sin without exception, to real sorrow for all of our sins out of love for God. Even with a couple weeks remaining in the Easter Season, we may be well advised out of love for Christ to let penance mark our lives and open us to the indwelling of the Paraclete sent to us by Christ from the Father’s Right Hand.  “And when He is come, He will convince the world of sin and of justice and of judgment.”

Praised by Jesus Christ!

PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI

Simon Peter, do you love me?

 

THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER

30 April – 1 May, St. Katharine Drexel Parish

Acts 5:27-32, 40b-41

Rv 5:11-14

Jn 21:1-19

 

Praised be Jesus Christ! Alleluia! Alleluia!

        I think that a good choice for a single word to epitomize the Third Sunday of Easter would certainly be the word “WITNESS”. It fits really well with our celebration today of First Holy Communion too! Our duty as baptized Christians is to give witness to Jesus Who was Crucified and Died for our salvation, and Who rose again from the dead on the third day opening for us the Gates of Heaven. We have news which is just too good to be kept to ourselves. The whole world should benefit from what is ours in Jesus. It makes absolutely no sense for us not to give witness to the Resurrection, to the Kingship of Jesus Christ.

How do we do that? Well, we certainly testify to Christ as our Savior and Lord, showing we truly believe, by the character of our lives as people of faith. Our clearest witness, however, comes when we assist at Mass each Sunday. Thinking of First Holy Communion today, we know that if we are free of mortal sin, we can take that witness of assisting at Mass to a whole new level by not just being present in church for the offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, but also by receiving our Lord, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in Holy Communion. “He who eats My Body and drinks My Blood will have life in Me”, says the Lord. This, we firmly believe, is the only kind of life which really has any importance.

Today we read in the Book of Acts that the Apostles were willing even to suffer in order to give witness to the Risen One, to testify openly to Christ’s victory. The big question is how does that legacy, our standing in the same line with the apostles as witnesses to Christ’s Resurrection, how as spiritual descendants of those first witnesses do we live out that truth in our lives today?

Given the special opportunity we have this weekend, let’s talk about our mission as witnesses for Christ in terms of First Holy Communion, of receiving the Lord Jesus as the children will do today, receiving for the first time Jesus Who feeds us in this Sacrament with His own Body and Blood. In the Sacrament of the Altar, we are invited to receive the Lord and to bind ourselves to Him at His invitation. In terms of Church law, we know that Catholics, once we have made our First Holy Communion, we are conscience bound to assist at Mass on all Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation. From the very earliest days of the Church, we have the words of St. Justin Martyr who told the pagan judge who condemned him to a martyr’s death, that the saint and his fellow Christians would not renounce the Lord Jesus, they would not give up Sunday Eucharist. St. Justin explained very clearly that without Sunday, without Sunday Mass, a Catholic Christian cannot live.

        More recently (St. Justin lived between 100 and 165 AD), less than a hundred years ago that same faith of the earliest Christian martyrs perdured in the Church. Even without martyrdom being here in a free country, the Catholics of my mother’s generation understood very clearly that our witness to Christ was not first of all one of going out and preaching on a soapbox either in a virtual or in a real public square. Faithful churchgoing is an eloquent witness all by itself. In other words, we Catholics profess our faith in our Risen and Victorious Lord by simply getting up and moving in faith, crossing the threshold into church for Mass on every Sunday and Holy Day. My mother and most Catholics of her generation were convinced just like St. Justin Martyr that without Sunday Mass we cannot truly live. Obviously, if you don’t live within walking distance of church, then that obligation for young children right after First Holy Communion still falls on the shoulders of the adults into whose care they have been entrusted ever since their Baptism. The only difference is that now it goes beyond setting a good example of true faith, goes beyond teaching your children their prayers, teaching them the difference between right and wrong. It involves giving them the possibility of fulfilling their Sunday obligation. With their First Holy Communion it involves enabling them to give their witness to Christ in the great tradition of St. Justin Martyr by going to Mass.

        Witnessing to Christ by word and deed! The apostles responded to the officers of the Sanhedrin by professing: “We must obey God rather than men.” For them that played out by them risking punishment and persecution for the sake of the Name of Jesus. For all of the Apostles, except St. John the Evangelist, that ultimately meant giving their own lives as martyrs for the sake of Christ’s Holy Name. We are called to do the same.

        Our second reading today from the Book of Revelation shows Christ’s Sacrifice and our participation in the Lamb’s Victory as something cosmic, as bigger than anything that is or can be in the world. The Book of Revelation may seem far from our experience of the faith. Maybe that is why the Church also gives us the Gospel account of the disciples gone fishing on the Sea of Tiberias. It may be more personable and easier to comprehend than the Revelation passage, and as such may be more relevant to our personal or emotional needs to connect with Jesus personally. Out fishing and catching nothing in their nets, the disciples encounter Jesus Risen from the Dead. Everything about the scene and the miraculous catch of fish shows us just how personal such an event could be. In the Gospel here encountering Christ the Victor King becomes an experience we can identify with. Jesus sets them at ease, as He calls them His children. He feeds them breakfast on the seashore. Then He asks Simon Peter, “Do you love Me?” He asks three times, and in response to Peter’s Yes, Yes, Yes, Jesus gives the prince of the apostles the shepherding commission, “Feed my sheep!”

        There are no tricks or illusions in what the Risen One is asking of Peter in terms of a witness to be exercised in leading His Church and guiding the baptized. He says, “Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”

        There are no tricks or illusions in what the Risen One is asking of us as Catholic Christians. It can be as easy as never missing Sunday Mass through our own fault, but it could just as well demand of us the ultimate sacrifice of our lives in the face of hostility, in order to say, Jesus is more important to me than life. As I say, we are not called to be preachy or to pretend that we are particularly better than others, but just very simply to say… without Sunday I cannot live.

        Praised be Jesus Christ, Who loved us even unto death, death on a Cross. “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength, honor and glory and blessing.”

PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI