Community in Mission

The Church is often perceived (unfairly) by what we are against, more so than what we are for. But saying to “No” to one thing is usually just another way of saying “Yes” to another. Sadly, most miss the important point and get stuck on what is denied, rather than consider what is affirmed. It is this way with the divorce question. Today, let’s look at what is affirmed.

We pondered yesterday how Jesus sets forth Divine Law and forbids divorce and remarriage. That much is rather clear. But what is Jesus setting forth more positively? Is it enough simply to say Jesus that forbids divorce and therefore so does the Church? It is not. Jesus actually paints a powerful portrait of love, fidelity, and the capacity of the human heart for tender, forgiving love. In this positive light, let us consider the teaching of Jesus, using Matthew 19 as our source.

Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?” “Have you not read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and cling to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’ ? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?” Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.” (Matthew 19:3-9)

I do not intend here to provide a line-by-line commentary of this passage, but rather to draw from it some fundamental gifts that the Lord highlights. For, more than forbidding divorce, the Lord is painting a picture of the human person, transformed by His grace, loving his wife tenderly and preserving union with her. Divorce is from the reign of sin; faithful, loving marriage is the fruit of the new life of grace fully embraced. These are not abstract gifts the Lord offers; they are real and true gifts that He died to give us. Let us consider the “positive” teachings that are set forth in the forbidding of divorce and remarriage.

1. A New Heart – Note that the Lord teaches these men of old that Moses permitted them to divorce their wives because their hearts were hard. Here Jesus taps into an old Rabbinic interpretation wherein Moses reasoned that if he were to require that marriage were “until death do them part,” the men of his time might well arrange the death of their wives in order to be free. Thus he reluctantly permitted the lesser evil of divorce to prevent the great evil of uxoricide (the killing of one’s wife).

Now this bespeaks a very hard heart. Jesus traces the problem of divorce to hard, mean, and unforgiving hearts, and these come from sin.

Jesus also says that at the beginning it was not this way. The “beginning” refers to God’s original plan for marriage in the Garden before Adam and Eve sinned (Gen 1 & 2). Prior to sin, their marriage was described poetically but idyllically. Adam speaks tenderly of Eve as “bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh” and also thereby expresses his unity with her. That they are naked but do not know it speaks to a relationship devoid of lust and exploitation. It also speaks to a marriage wherein nothing is hidden; there are no coverups, no masks, and no fear of ridicule; there is openness, communication, trust, assurance, and comfort in the presence of each other.

This was marriage “in the beginning” before the long reign of sin. It is a portrait of tender love, and a relaxed, joyful, and grateful acceptance of the other as from the hand of God.  Here are two hearts, alive and open, tender and accepting.

But no sooner do they sin than their marriage is affected. The coverup begins as fig leaves are sewn together. The trust gives way to fear as important aspects of the other are covered, hidden from ridicule, exploitation, and abuse. There are now things with which they will not trust each other. Adam now speaks to God of Eve as “that woman you put here with me.” Here is distance, anger, and bitterness. Eve is told by God that though she will depend on and desire her husband, he will lord it over her and she will suffer the abuse of power.

Here is a sad portrait of how marriage suffered in the reign of sin.

But Jesus announces a great return! Now, on account of the healing He effects by dying and rising for us to new life, God’s original plan for marriage is again available. We can return to the way things were “in the beginning.” Our hearts, hardened by sin, can be healed by His grace. It is now possible for spouses to love each other with tender hearts freed from the hardness of sin. Through grace, the Lord Jesus can make it for couples more and more the way it was for Adam and Eve before the Fall. With new minds and hearts, husband and wife are now equipped to forgive, to trust, to cherish, and to love with great tenderness. Why would such spouses want to divorce at all?

Thus in forbidding divorce, the Lord Jesus paints a picture of transformed human beings and summons us to the new life he died to give us. It is a magnificent pictures of hearts set free to love and to abide in that love with tenderness and deep affection.

2. The Capacity to Cling – In quoting Genesis, the Lord says that a man “clings to his wife.” The Greek word used is κολληθήσεται (kollēthēsetai) which means (more literally) “to stick like glue,” to bond, cleave, adhere, be joined or connected, etc. This is strong language in the Greek. It bespeaks a man who works hard to preserve love with his wife, who says to her in effect, “Honey, if you ever leave me, I’m going with you!” And while the text speaks to the man as head of the home, it surely also refers to a wife who does the same.

And why do they do this? Because they want to! They love each other and cannot dream of being apart. Here too are tender hearts full of love, and love seeks union with the beloved. Here too is a work of God available to us on account of the new life Jesus died to give us. Here is the positive picture of hearts no longer hardened by sin, but set free to love and to seek union joyfully.

3. Become what you are! Jesus says they are no longer two, but one flesh. They are this because God has made them so, and what God has joined no one can separate.

We are never more content than when we are what we have been made to be. And here Jesus says to every truly married husband and wife, “I joined you. I have made you one. You are no longer two; you are one. Now allow me to deepen your experience of this as the years go by. Become what you are by my grace! You will never be more happy than when you become what you are. There will be growing pains, but never forget who you are, and allow me to accomplish this miracle of unity for you. It will complete you and sanctify you.”

4. The Fruit of Love – Elsewhere the Lord also commands the fruit of love when He says, “Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:22) And thus husbands and wives are called to celebrate and rejoice in their mutual love with great intimacy and joy, and in the context of that marital joy, rejoice to see their love bear fruit in their children. They can say to each other, “See how we love each other. These children are the fruit of our love.”

And thus we see in the commands of marriage that the couple is to cling, to reject divorce, and to bear the fruit of children. These are the promises of God and the glorious vision of lives transformed by grace. For God does not command what he does not empower. In Jesus’ every command is presumed the grace to accomplish it abundantly.

In upholding the Divine Law of Jesus against divorce, the Church is not merely enforcing “rules,” she is pointing to the magnificent portrait of the human being transformed by the grace of Jesus Christ. She is saying, “There is the life that Jesus died to give you. Now go lay hold of it!”

Here is a video I put together back in 2009 to commemorate my parents’ 50th Wedding Anniversary. They had both passed away by that time, but it still had to be celebrated. I will not say that they had an easy marriage. There were struggles and tragedies. But through the years, my parents came to be what they always were: one. And when my mother died suddenly and tragically my Father wondered how he could go on living when half of him was gone. He died less than two years later. The two had become one flesh. This commemorates his sorrow at her passing.

In today’s gospel we encounter two discouraged and broken men making their way to Emmaus. The text describes them as “downcast.” That is to say, their eyes are cast to the ground; their heads are hung low. Their Lord and Messiah has been killed—the one they had thought would finally liberate Israel. Yes, it is true that some women claimed he was alive, but these disciples have discredited those reports and are now leaving Jerusalem. It is late in the afternoon; the sun is sinking low.

The men cannot see or understand God’s plan. They cannot “see” that he must be alive, just as they were told. They are quite blind to the glorious things that have already happened, just hours before. Their eyes are cast downward. And in this they are much like us, who also struggle to see and understand that we have already won the victory. Too easily we are discouraged, our eyes cast downward in depression rather than upward in faith.

In effect, if you are prepared to “see” it, the Lord will celebrate Holy Mass with them. In the context of the sacred meal we call the Mass, he will open their eyes and they will recognize him; they will see glory and new life.

These men are also heading in the wrong direction. They need to be reoriented by the Lord. They need to turn around and go back to the Liturgical East, back to Jerusalem, back toward the resurrection, back to the light, away from the setting sun to the West where they are currently headed.

The Lord will open their eyes and reorient them with the repast we have come to know as the Holy Mass. Through this celebration, he will open their eyes and reorient them. He will, in the words of today’s Psalm, “Show them the path of life.”

Note that the whole Gospel, not just the last part, is in the form of a Mass. There is a gathering, a penitential rite, a Liturgy of the Word, Intercessory prayers, a Liturgy of the Eucharist, and an Ite Missa est. And in this manner of a whole Mass, they have their eyes opened to Him and to glory; the Lord reorients them, turning them around in the right direction. So too for us who attend Mass, if we are faithful.

Let’s look at this Mass and see how the Lord uses it to accomplish these ends.

Stage One: Gathering Rite – The curtain rises on this Mass with two disciples having gathered together on a journey: Now that very day two of them were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus (Lk 24:13). We have already discussed above that they were in the midst of a serious struggle and are downcast. We only know one of them by name: Cleopas. Who is the other? If you are prepared to accept it, the other is you. So they (this means you; this means me) have gathered. This is what we do as the preliminary act of every Mass. We who are pilgrims on a journey come together.

It so happens for these two disciples that Jesus joins them: And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them (Luke 24:15). The text goes on to inform us that they did not yet recognize Jesus.

The Lord walks with us too. For us who gather at Mass, it is essential to acknowledge by faith that when we gather together, the Lord Jesus is with us. Scripture says, For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them (Matt 18:20). It is a fact for many of us too, that Jesus, though present, is unrecognized! Yet he is no less among us than he was present to these two disciples who fail to recognize him.

Liturgically, we acknowledge the presence of the Lord at the beginning of the Mass in two ways. First, as the priest processes down the aisle the congregation sings a hymn of praise. It is not “Fr. Jones” they praise, it is Jesus (whom “Fr. Jones” represents) that they praise. Once at the Chair, the celebrant (who is really Christ) says, “The Lord be with you.” And he thereby announces the presence of Christ among us as promised by the Scriptures.

The Mass has begun; our two disciples are gathered, and the Lord is with them. So too for us at every Mass. The two disciples still struggle to see the Lord; they struggle to experience new life and to recognize that the victory has already been won. And so too do some of us who gather for Mass. But the simple fact that these disciples (we) are gathered is already the beginning of the solution. Mass has begun; help is on the way!

Stage Two: Penitential Rite – The two disciples seem troubled and the Lord inquires of them the source of their distress: What are you discussing as you walk along? (Lk 24:17) In effect, the Lord invites them to speak with him about what is troubling them. It may also be a gentle rebuke from the Lord that the two of them are walking away from Jerusalem, away from the site of the resurrection.

Clearly their sorrow and distress are governing their behavior. Even though they have already heard evidence of his resurrection (cf 24:22-24), they seem hopeless and have turned away from this good news. As we have noted, the text describes them as “downcast.” (24:17)

Thus the Lord engages them in a kind of gentle penitential rite and wants to engage them on their negativity.

So too for us at Mass. The penitential rite is a moment when the celebrant (who is really Christ) invites us to lay down our burdens and sins before the Lord, who alone can heal us. For we too often enter the presence of God looking downcast and carrying many burdens and sins. We too, like these disciples, may be walking in wrongful directions. And so the Lord says to us in effect, “What are thinking about and doing as you walk along? Where are you going with your life?

The Lord asks them, and us, to articulate our struggles. This calling to mind of our struggles in the penitential rite is a first step toward healing and the recovery of sight.

And thus we see again, in this story about two disciples on the road to Emmaus, the Mass that is so familiar to us.

Stage Three: Liturgy of the Word – In response to their concerns and struggles, the Lord breaks open the Word of God—the Scriptures. The text says, Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures (Luke 24:27).

Notice that not only does the Lord refer to Scripture, he interprets it for them. Hence there is not just the reading of the Word, there is a homily as well: an explanation of the Scripture and the application of it to the struggles these men have. The homily must have been a good one too, for later the disciples remark: Were not our hearts burning (within us) while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us? (Luke 24:32)

And so too for us at Mass. Regardless of what struggles we may have brought to the Mass, the Lord bids us to listen to His Word as the Scriptures are proclaimed. Then the homilist (who is really Christ) interprets and applies the Word to our life. It is true that the Lord works through a weak human agent (the priest or deacon), but God can write straight with crooked lines. As long as the homilist is orthodox, it is Christ who speaks. Pray for your homilist to be an obedient and useful instrument for Christ at the homily.

Notice too, that although the disciples do not yet fully see, their downcast attitude has been abated. Their hearts are now on fire. Pray God, too, for us who come to Mass Sunday after Sunday and hear from God how victory is already ours in Christ Jesus. God reminds us, through successive Sundays and through passages that repeat every three years, that though the cross is part of our life, the resurrection surely is too. And we are carrying our crosses to an eternal Easter victory. If we are faithful in listening to God’s Word, hope and joy build within our hearts and we come, through being transformed by Christ in the Liturgy, to be men and women of hope and confidence.

Stage Four: Intercessory Prayers – After the homily, we usually make requests of Christ. We do this based on the hope, that His Word provides us, that He lives, He loves us, and He is able. And so it is that these two disciples make a request of Christ: Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over. (Luke 24:29)

Is this not what we also say in so many words? “Stay with us Lord, for it is sometimes dark in our lives and the shadows are growing long. Stay with us Lord and with those we love so that we will not be alone in the dark. In our darkest hours, be to us a light O Lord—a light that never fades away.”

And indeed it is already getting brighter, for we are already more than halfway through the Mass!

Stage Five: Liturgy of the Eucharist – Christ does stay with them. And then come the lines that no Catholic could miss: And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them (Luke 24:30). Yes, it is the Mass to be sure. All the basic actions of the Eucharist are there: he took, blessed, broke, and gave. It is the same activity as took place at the Last Supper and occurs at every Mass. Later, the two disciples will refer back to this moment as the breaking of the bread (Luke 24:35), a clear biblical reference to the Holy Eucharist.

And so the words of the Mass come immediately to mind: “While they were at supper He took the bread, and gave you thanks and praise. He broke the bread, gave it to his disciples and said, take this all of you and eat it: this is my Body which will be given up for you.”

A fascinating thing happens though: With that, their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight (Luke 24:31).

Note that it is the very act of consecration that opens their eyes. Is this not what Holy Communion is to do for us? Are we not to learn to recognize Christ by the very mysteries we celebrate? Are we not to Taste and See?

The Liturgy and the Sacraments are not merely rituals; they are encounters with Jesus Christ. Through our repeated celebration of the holy mysteries, our eyes are increasingly opened if we are faithful. We learn to see and hear Christ in the Liturgy, to experience His ministry to us.

The fact that Jesus vanishes from their sight teaches us that he is no longer seen by the eyes of the flesh, but by the eyes of faith, the eyes of the heart. So though he is gone from our earthly, fleshly, carnal sight, he is now to be seen in the Sacrament of the Altar, and experienced in the Liturgy and other Sacraments. The Mass has reached its pinnacle for these two disciples and for us: they/we have tasted and now see.

Consider these two men (and us) who began this Gospel quite downcast. Now their hearts are on fire and they see. The Lord has celebrated Mass to get them to this point. And so too for us, the Lord celebrates Mass to set our hearts on fire and to open our eyes to glory. We need to taste in order to see. Ponder these verses from Psalm 34:

I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. …Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him (Psalm 34:4-8).

Yes, blessed are we if we taste faithfully in order to see, every Sunday at Mass.

Stage six: Ite Missa est – Not able to contain their joy or hide their experience, the two disciples run seven miles back to Jerusalem to tell their brethren what has happened and how they encountered Jesus in the breaking of the bread. They want to, they have to speak of the Christ they have encountered, what he said and what he did.

How about us? At the end of every Mass, the priest or deacon says, “The Mass is ended; go in peace.” This does NOT mean, “OK, we’re done here; go on home and have a nice day.” What it DOES mean is, “Go now out into the world and bring the Christ you have received to others. Tell them what you have heard and seen here, what you have experienced. Share the joy and hope that this Liturgy gives with others.”

Did you notice part of the word MISSion in the word disMISSal? You are being commissioned—sent on a mission to announce Christ to others.

The Lucan text we are reviewing says of these two disciples, So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them…Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread (Lk 24:33,35). Note that they have turned around now and are heading in the right direction: back to the Liturgical East, back to the light, back to the resurrection, back from the West and the darkness.

How about us? Does our Mass finish as well, as enthusiastically? Can you tell others that you have come to Christ in “the breaking of the bread,” in the Mass?

So Jesus has used the Mass to draw the disciples from gloom to glory, from downcast to delighted, from darkness to light, from disorientation to orientation. It was the Mass; do you “see” it there? It is the Mass. What else could it be?

One of our tasks in life is to discover what our gifts are and what they are not. Having discovered our gifts, we do well to rejoice in them and not try to be what we are not.

An old story is told about Rabbi Eleazar who once said,

Every now and then I think to myself, “Eleazar, Why are you not more like Moses? Moses was a great man.” But then I think again, “If I try to be like Moses, when I die God will say to me, ‘Eleazar! Why were you not more like Eleazar?‘”

In other words, God already has a Moses. He needs an Eleazar. And from me he needs a Charles. Whatever Moses was, that has been accomplished. It is for you and me to become the man or woman that God made us to be.

St. Paul also writes of the need for diversity in gifts and teaches that God distributes them accordingly:

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.… (1 Cor 12:4-11)

Then St. Paul goes on to say that none of us should denigrate our gifts just because we admire a gift that someone else has:

Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. (1 Cor 12:15-19)

He also teaches that none of us should regard our gifts as superior to others, or to think that somehow we do not need the gifts of others:

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. (1 Cor 12:21-22)

So there it is. I do not have all the gifts, and you do not have all the gifts. But together, we have all the gifts. And a certain combination of gifts works well in certain situations, while another set might work well in others.

At times people admire my ability to write with ease. OK, fine. That is a gift I have: to write almost without effort. But don’t ask me to try to raise children, or even to try to teach little kids for more than 15 minutes—I don’t have any skill in that! I’m also lousy at math, and my parish staff will affirm that my administrative skills leave something to be desired. But, thanks be to God, my staff DOES have those skills and they do a great job. That frees me to write, preach, teach, and celebrate the Sacraments. Yes, together we have all the gifts.

Enjoy this video, which teaches that certain combinations of gifts work well in certain settings but poorly in others. It is not just that we each have particular skills, but also that different situations often require different gifts.

A study recently came out analyzing the damage to the brain caused by pot smoking. Unfortunately, it came out during the week of the Triduum, and a Catholic blog like this had another focus at that time. But it’s time to circle back and have a look.

I wrote some time ago of my anecdotal observation that the pot smokers I knew all developed serious problems with motivation, and that the effects of being “high” lingered long after toking a joint and went on to become semi-permanent. It involved a glazed look, a shuffling gait, and a lethargic attitude largely exemplified by the phrase: “Hey man…I ain’t gotta do what the man says; I ain’t gotta go to the man’s class…” When some of the kids I grew up with started using pot, there was a very noticeable change in their personalities.  Again, I have written more on that here: The Problem of Pot

Now comes a more scientific study from Harvard that affirms what experience has taught. Below are some pertinent excerpts (in bold) along with my brief commentary (in red). The full article is here: Harvard Study links Pot and Brain Damage

According to a new study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers from Harvard and Northwestern studied the brains of 18- to 25-year-olds, half of whom smoked pot recreationally and half of whom didn’t. What they found was rather shocking: even those who only smoked few times a week had significant brain abnormalities in the areas that control emotion and motivation.

Exactly. But I wonder why the author of the article used the word “shocking”? As I have said, and many of you have commented, getting stoned makes you groggy, unmotivated, and induces a sort of personality change. I think it would have been shocking not to find any brain abnormalities. The phenomenon of becoming unmotivated is very observable.

Note too the phrase  “significant brain abnormalities.”

Similar studies have found a correlation between heavy pot use and brain abnormalities, but this is the first study that has found the same link with recreational users.

The study described “recreational users” as those who smoked pot between one and four times a week.

Using three different neuroimaging techniques, researchers then looked at…areas [of the brain] … responsible for gauging the benefit or loss of doing certain things, and providing feelings of reward for pleasurable activities such as food, sex, and social interactions. “This is a part of the brain that you absolutely never ever want to touch,” said [Hans] Breiter, co-author of the study….These are fundamental in terms of what people find pleasurable in the world and assessing that against the bad things.”

Pay attention! Pot affects judgment. The study seems to make clear that not only are pot smokers damaging their motivation, they are also affecting their ability to make sound judgments about what is good vs. bad, helpful vs. harmful.

This may go a long way to affirm another connection I have made anecdotally between drug use and the cultural revolution. How else can we describe the cultural and sexual revolutions of the 1960s and 1970s other than as a long stream of bad decisions, poor judgment, the abandonment of common sense, and just plain stupid and foolish thinking? In other words, an awful lot of the leaders, drivers, and participants in this these revolutions were stoned and their brains were damaged.

And even today, when there is so much evidence of the social harm caused by these revolutions, many still can’t make the connections; they want more of the same; they want to drive us deeper into revolution. Are their brains damaged? I don’t know. You decide.

But the widespread lack of common sense in our culture, especially among the Baby Boomers, has a kind of surreal quality to it. It’s a little like a bad dream that you’d expect people to eventually wake up from—but many don’t. Perhaps their brains are too damaged to wake up or to think clearly. I don’t know. You decide.

Shockingly, every single person in the marijuana group, including those who only smoked once a week, had noticeable abnormalities.

OK, so at least according to this study, even “moderate” use causes harm. Studies will continue, but honestly, the data have been pretty clear to me for a long time just from my personal experience with pot smokers. It ain’t cool or pretty. They just look glazed, stoned, unmotivated, and “dulled out.” Their whole sad demeanor shouts to me: “Don’t do drugs!”

I am not going to address here the issue of how drug use should be dealt with by the legal system. I am not certain that putting users in jail is the answer. But the legalization push that is rampaging through this country is yet another example of bad judgment. Let’s slow down the train and at least adopt the same attitude toward pot that we have toward cigarettes.

Pot should barely be tolerated within fifty miles of where anyone lives. And if it is “legal” it ought to be pushed to the margins of our society with no less scorn than tobacco has recently been given. When I see a tobacco smoker I think, “How sad. How foolish…given all we now know.” There is no less reason to consider pot smokers in this same manner. They are not cool, hip, or glamorous. Smoking pot is sad and foolish behavior.

To address the “Yeah, but what about alcohol?” objection, I will make a few quick observations:

1. Drunkenness is a sin.
2. Would our society be better off without any alcohol? Probably. But if so, why would we want to add another substance with problematic associations to the mix?
3. I am not aware of any study that says that moderate or occasional use of alcoholic beverages permanently damages the human brain. But it is clear that excessive use of alcohol has severe bodily consequences, including effects on the brain.
4. The Bible, while condemning drunkenness, does not forbid the use of alcohol and even commends the proper use of wine, etc.
5. The moderate use of alcohol is not in the same category as pot smoking and the two should be discussed as separate matters. The expression “Drugs and Alcohol” is an equivocation that lumps together two different realities that are separated by wide gulfs of culture, history, experience, and medical study.

When I was growing up in the 60s and 70s, a lot of music “celebrated” pot. Here is one of those popular “songs.” It made a joke out of being stoned. At the end of the day though, it was just dumb.

I was at a meeting of the Seminary Council today for one of our diocesan seminaries. It is the Redemptoris Mater Seminary that is currently training almost thirty of our Washington men for priestly Ministry. Four men are currently stepping forward for Holy Orders this spring, and each spoke to the Council seeking our prayers and recommendation to the Cardinal.

They are all fine men, but what most impressed me was that when asked to tell us a little something about themselves, they went beyond the mundane (date of birth, country of origin, basic course of studies, etc.). Instead, each man gave personal testimony of how the Lord has both ministered to and transformed him. These men were witnesses of the Lord and His power.

Each of them spoke of how the Lord rescued him from various afflictions, family and personal struggles, and agnostic or ambivalent tendencies. Each spoke of how the Lord called him and made a way for him, how the Lord has transformed his own life.

I told them how important it is to share this personal witness with the people they serve. They really did not need for me to say this, since the Neocatechumenal Way has personal witness and testimony as an important hallmark of their formation and liturgical experience.

I too have discovered the importance of the priest bearing personal witness to the gospel in his preaching, teaching, and daily life. I have discovered that our people need—are hungry—for those of us who preach to move beyond mere aphorisms and abstract homilies to a personal witness of the truth. We cannot simply proclaim the truth; we have to know it; we have to experience that it is true. We have to be firsthand witnesses and be able to articulate how we have personally experienced the power of the Cross of Jesus Christ to put sin to death and bring newness of life to us.

Earlier this week, I was privileged to preach to almost 200 priests on retreat and shared some of these thoughts with them. We who preach are called to be witnesses, not just those who pass on information or instruction.

St. Paul wrote, If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation (2 Cor 5:17). The danger for a bishop, priest, or deacon who preaches is that he merely quotes the Scripture as a handy phrase or slogan. What is supposed to happen is that the preacher is able to say,

Yes, if anyone is in Christ he IS a new creation, and I can personally say to you, my people, that this is true not only because it is in the Bible, but because it is happening in my life. I, am a new creation. I am seeing my life changed and transformed by the cross of Jesus Christ. Through the sacraments, his Word, prayer, and the ministry of the Church, Jesus Christ is setting me free from sin and every negative thing in my life. He is breaking the chains of the things that held me in bondage. He is giving me a new mind and a new heart. I love people I never thought I could love! I am more chaste than I ever thought possible. Serenity and joy are replacing fear and depression. I am more and more a man of hope, confidence, and courage. Yes, I AM a new creation. What the Lord says is true, and I am a witness. I’m not what I want to be, but I’m not what I used to be. A wonderful change has come over me.

I am convinced that many Catholics long to hear their clergy speak with conviction—like men who have actually met Jesus Christ. Of course, before they speak such things, they actually have to be true!

I am glad that the men who testified today have actually met Jesus Christ and experienced His power. They have something to say because something real has happened to them. And herein lies the necessity not only for clergy, but for parents, and for all Christians, who are called to evangelize. It is absolutely critical that we personally know the Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of His Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. It is essential that, in the laboratory of our own lives, we have tested the Word of God and found it to be true. And from these experiences we can preach, speak, and witness with authority.

We preach with authority only if we have met the “author” and felt His power to transform our lives. Otherwise we risk giving information, but without the conviction or personal witness that helps people to transformation. We can say all the right and orthodox things, but then comes the ultimate question: “That’s all very nice, but how do I know it’s true?” And the preacher, the teacher, the parent, the catechist, or the evangelizer has got to be able to say in response, “Look at me…I promise you it is true because it is happening in my life. I promise you in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ that a completely new life is available to you, and I am a firsthand witness of it.”

The Greek word for authority is “exousia” which more literally means to preach out of (one’s own) substance. It means to preach as one who has substantially experienced what he speaks of.

Of course to be able to say all this requires that it is actually happening! That’s why it is so important for priests, parents, and all Church leaders to tend to their own spiritual lives—to study the Word of God and see its truth in the laboratory of their own lives, to consider well the evidence and gather their own testimony.

Fulton Sheen once remarked that we have tried seemingly every other way to evangelize and grow the Church: seminars, workshops, committees, new music, liturgical creativity—all to little avail. But one thing only has not been tried: holiness. Yes, authentic transformation comes only when we finally take the Lord up on His offer—and take His word seriously—that we are and can become a new creation.

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” St. Paul couldn’t just look this up and quote it like a slogan. He had to write it. And before he wrote it he actually experienced it. So when Paul says this, it’s not a slogan; it is a surety; it is an experienced truth.

This is what the Church needs: humble but strong preachers who have confirmed the Word of God in their own lives. Men who can boast, not of what they have done, but of what the Lord has done for them through the power of His cross to put sin to death and bring grace alive. And from experience comes authority, for they have met the Author of their salvation.

Thanks be to God for these men at the seminary today and for their witness, their testimony, their “boasting” in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (cf Gal 6:14).

The photo at the above-right (taken by yours truly) is of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Washington, D.C.

This song says, You Should be Witness…Why don’t you testify? Don’t be afraid to be a witness for the Lord…Stand up and be a witness!

There is a concise summary of the work and experience of the Church given by Jesus in the discourse with Nicodemus:

Amen, amen I say to you, we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you people do not accept our testimony. (Jn 3:11)

I. Plural – Note that while Jesus speaks to Nicodemus he does not say, “I speak to you,” he says, “We speak to you.” This first-person plural is common in Johannine literature. For example, at the beginning of the First Letter of John it is said, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.” (1 John 1:1).

Who is the “we” referred to here? As with most things Scripture, there are layers of meaning. Certainly it means, first of all, the apostolic college. And at another, wider level, it refers to those first eyewitnesses, the disciples who heard and saw Jesus and were able to report what he said and did. Yet more widely, the “we” referred to here is the Church down through the centuries.

It is ultimately the Church which says to our world, “We speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen.”

II. Proclamation – This therefore is the proclamation of the Church down through the centuries to our present day and to the world, “We speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen.” If the Church can no longer say this, she is no longer the Church! If the church could no longer say, “Jesus is Lord…and we know this, we experience this, and we see it with our eyes…” then the Church would no longer be the Church.

Note that in the Biblical sense, the word “know” does not simply refer to intellectual knowing, as if the Church were simply reciting words written centuries ago and then handing them out. Biblical knowing emphasizes experience; something known means something actually seen and experienced, not just learned in the abstract. The Church does not simply know Jesus as Lord and speak of what she knows, as if reciting ancient formulas, precious though they are. Rather, she speaks of her experience with the Lord Jesus Christ in the sacred liturgy, and of His powerful ministry to all her Children and members down through the centuries to this very day.

The proclamation of the Church is that we speak to the world of what we know, that is, what we have experienced. And to emphasize, Jesus adds that the proclamation of the Church is not simply what we know, but what we have “seen.” And here too, a tangible experience is referred to. This is not simply the recitation of ancient formulas, but of ancient truths, presently experienced—seen. In other words, the Church can raise her right hand and swear to the truth of all that Jesus has said and done because she knows it; she experiences it; she has seen it—she has witnessed it occurring in her very sight.

For indeed, souls are healed and set free, and human beings are transformed gloriously by the celebration of her sacred liturgy with her blessed Groom and Lord, Jesus Christ.

The Church announces her experience with Jesus Christ, with the capacity of His Word and truth to transform her and her members. So the Church says to the world, “We testify to what we have known, and what we have seen.”

This is the proclamation of the Church, and if the Church could no longer say this to the world, she would no longer be the Church.

III. Persecution – Then Jesus says to Nicodemus, and by extension to the world, “You do not accept our testimony.”

That is to say, it is often the lot of the Church to be scorned, ridiculed, and mocked—even hated and persecuted—because of our proclamation. There are many who demand that the Church conform to the world and its ideas and values.

Yet as Pope Paul VI noted in “Humanae Vitae,” one of the Church’s most rejected encyclicals,

There is too much clamorous outcry against the voice of the Church, and this is intensified by modern means of communication. But it comes as no surprise to the Church that she, no less than her divine Founder, is destined to be a “sign of contradiction.” She does not, because of this, evade the duty imposed on her of proclaiming humbly but firmly the entire moral law, both natural and evangelical. (#18)

It is often the lot of the Church to be this sign of contradiction. Yes, we must often stand up before a worldly consensus and say, “No,” no matter how many there are around us who say, “Yes.” It is the lot of the Church to experience rejection and to have to say, “You do not accept our testimony.”

And yet this is judgment, for Jesus says, “Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light.” (John 3:19-20) And St. Paul also adds, “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” (2 Tim 4:3). And Simeon as he held the infant Jesus, and thereby the infant Church, said, “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted.” (Lk 2:34)

Yes, here is our place—among the persecuted, scorned, and derided. The Church must be willing to say to the world, “You do not accept our testimony.” We must not “cave.” Too many today, desiring the Church to be “relevant,” and “acceptable,” insist that we alter our doctrines so that the world will accept our testimony. But God forbid the Church ever do this. We would no longer be the Church!

Here then is Jesus’ Charter—His mandate—for the Church: that we should say to the world, “We speak to you of what we know, and of what we have seen, but you do not accept our testimony.”

Every now and then, a word just catches your ear and several times in the space of a day it jumps out at you and you’re tempted to say, “There it is again!”

Yesterday it was the word “consider,” an ordinary, everyday word…or is it? Why did it suddenly strike me so?

With my knowledge of Latin, it occurred to me that “consider” has something to do with the stars, for the Latin word sidera means “stars” or “heavenly bodies.” How interesting! I have use the word for the better part of fifty years and that had never crossed my mind before. But as sometimes happens, I was too busy to check it out and got on to other things, the insight forgotten as quickly as it had come.

But then this morning in the reading from the morning office, there it was again. Paul’s Letter to the Romans says,

You must consider yourselves dead to sin but alive for God in Christ Jesus (Rom 6:11).

“Okay Lord, I got the message. You want me to consider the word ‘consider.’ There’s something mystical and spiritual about it isn’t there, Lord?” The Lord didn’t need to answer. After prayer I spent some time checking out my hypothesis.

Sure enough, the word “consider” comes from the Latin root words cum (with) and sidera (stars), thus meaning literally “with the stars.”

The dictionary assigns the following meanings to the word ‘consider’: to think about carefully, to think of especially with regard to taking some action, to take into account, to regard or treat in an attentive or kindly way, to gaze on steadily or reflectively, and to come to regard.

And all these meanings are accurate enough.

But the root meaning referring to the stars also brings the word so much more alive. Thus my definition would include the following perspectives: to reflect upon as if pondering the stars, to gaze as if with wonder and awe, to think carefully and reflectively as when one looks up and out at the night sky.

Yes, to look up and out, billions of miles out into the vast sweep of space with over 100 billion galaxies and untold numbers more of stars in each one. Yes, to “consider” from its literal root is to base our thoughts in the perspective of the stars. This fills us with wonder and awe, reminds of the extravagance of God’s love, and humbles us by the sheer vastness of all the things that God has done. It is to see by the light of God’s glory and his expansive love. To consider is to think in a way that sees the present moment as caught up in something far more immense and ancient than the mere here and now; it is to experience the moment, the place and time, as part of something more vast and timeless than we can imagine.

And thus in St. Paul’s admonition, “you must consider yourselves dead to sin but alive for God in Christ Jesus,” we are being invited to grasp that God’s mercy and love are bigger than any sin we may have committed. We are summoned to look beyond the present moment and to behold with wonder and awe the perfection that God has already accomplished.

And as we see and behold that reality, we start to live out of it now. As we cast our thoughts out among the stars, as we think cum sidera, we look outward and upward from the present reality to the glory waiting for us in heaven. And, as St Paul exhorts, making this “consideration” helps that reality begin to break into the present moment and become ever more real to us and for us.

And as it does break in, sins begin to be put to death and virtues come alive. Our life begins to change as we look beyond the present, in which there may be weakness and pain, and we see (out there past the stars) to the victory that is already ours and is so much bigger than this mere moment. And thus we become alive to God in Christ Jesus.

All this from one word, “consider”: to reflect as if pondering the stars, to gaze as if with wonder and awe, to think carefully and reflectively as when one looks up and out at the night sky.

Yes words are wonderful and many of them are mystical. Think about it: the stars get you to look up and out, to gaze beyond with wonder and awe, to consider.

Not a bad thing to do when seeking perspective or pondering paths, when searching for answers, searching for meaning, searching for God.

Give it some consideration.

In a similar vein, Fr. Robert Barron has described how the word “recognize” means (literally) to rethink something, to take up a thought that has already been thought (re (again) + cogitare (to think)). We live in an intelligible world, a world that was thought into being by God. And thus when we recognize something, we are thinking something that God has already thought into being; we are rethinking it. Think about it! Can you not recognize this? Indeed, consider it well!