People oversimplify Original Sin in various ways. Some reduce it to the mere eating of a piece of fruit rather than the act of disobedience, mistrust, and ingratitude it really was.
Others miss the subtle but important difference in the descriptions of Adam’s sin compared to Eve’s. Of Eve’s sin, Eve herself is a witness. She said, The serpent tricked me and so I ate it (Gen 3:13). But of Adam’s sin God said, Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it …’ (Gen 3:17). Eve’s sin lay in her allowing Satan to deceive her. Adam’s sin lay in his willingness to allow his wife to tempt him.
A final misconstruing of Original Sin is to label it “the Sin of Adam and Eve.” But Scripture calls it “The Sin of Adam.” For while both our first parents sinned, Original Sin comes to us from Adam who, as head of the first family and primogenitor of us all, conveyed it to us.
As is typical for my Saturday blog, today’s post is a lighthearted one in which I find something of the Scriptures in a video. Now some object to my taking biblical stories (especially one as dark as the story of Original Sin) and making light of them. But my prudential judgment on such things is that they are acceptable and that sometimes we can best process sad and serious things through humor and playful reimagining.
In the video below we see a playful “what if” scenario. In effect it poses these questions: What if Adam, when presented the forbidden fruit by his wife, found it less enticing than what God offered? What if there had been something to remind him of God’s greater offer?
Of course there was something greater and it was all around him! It was called paradise. Now the writers of this commercial want us to think that if only Adam had had Doritos at hand he would clearly have preferred them to the forbidden fruit. In other words, they present their product a metaphor for paradise. Nice try, and very creative I might add! But God offers even more than Doritos.
In the end, though, the insight is important. Like Adam, we are tempted to forget the blessings of God and become mesmerized by some lesser pleasure (represented by the forbidden fruit). The key is to remember the greater gift of God and His Kingdom, not choosing anything that might interfere with that. Remember the gifts of God!
Enjoy the video and remember that far greater visions await you if you are faithful!
(And by the way, thank you, Frito-Lay, for the affirmation of human life displayed in your recent Doritos commercial (that aired during the Super Bowl)! I am not focusing on that commercial here today because many others have already commented on it quite well.)
Required fasting is almost non-existent in the Catholic Church today. And even that required “fasting” (for those between the ages of 18 and 59) is really just eating somewhat less than normal (one regular meal and two small “snack-like” meals with no snacking between meals). Not much of a fast, really. Real fasting (going without food for the entire day) is practiced by some today as a personal discipline and it is laudable if a person is able to do so.
Yet even the mitigated fast is “hard” for many, as are most bodily disciplines in the soft Western world. We may think that we just have to get “tougher” and that by the power of our own flesh we can pull it off. I have no doubt that simple will power can get one through a fast, especially the mitigated one that is required. But even a non-believer can diet and fast. What we must seek is true fasting, spiritual fasting, which is far richer than merely forgoing food.
In the Gospel for today (Friday after Ash Wednesday), Jesus gives us an important key to true spiritual fasting:
The disciples of John [the Baptist] approached Jesus and said, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast” (Matt 9:14-15).
Notice the pattern: first comes the (wedding) feast, then the fast. What does this mean? Well, consider the wedding feasts of Jesus’ time. They often went on for several days, even a full week. During this time there was food, feasting, family, fellowship, and did I mention food? Lots of it, and wine, too! It was a time of satiation. But eventually this time of feasting ended and by then, people were filled. They’d had enough food for a while and so subsequent fasting made sense; it seemed natural. What does this teach us and why does Jesus use this image regarding fasting?
Simply put, if you want to be able to fast, spiritually and truly, you have to experience the wedding feast of the Lamb of God. In this great wedding feast—which we are to experience through prayer, scripture, and especially the Liturgy—we are to be filled with Christ. We are to encounter Him and feast abundantly on His Word and His Body and Blood, and to rejoice with Him exceedingly. When this happens we are equipped to fast authentically.
At some point the “groom is taken away” from us. That is to say, the Mass ends and we’re back to dealing with the world and its demands. Or perhaps we enter a penitential season, or we go through a difficult time during which God seems distant, or we struggle with temptation. At times like that, a fast of sorts is before us. But we are able to withstand it and are spiritually equipped to do so because we have been to the wedding feast and feasted with the Groom. Having done this, we are less enamored of the world and its charms; we are filled with Christ and simply need less of the world. This is true fasting.
But let me ask you, have you met Christ and been to the wedding feast with Him? One of the sad realities in parish life and in the Church is that many people have never really met Jesus Christ. They have heard about Him and know about Him, but they’ve never really encountered Him powerfully in prayer or the Mass. They are faithful to be sure. They are sacramentalized but not evangelized. They know about Jesus, but they don’t know Him. To them, the liturgy can be, and often is, a lifeless ritual to be endured rather than an encounter with Jesus Christ. Instead of being a wedding feast, the Mass is more like a visit to the doctor. For them, the majority of the Mass is a “waiting room” experience. Waiting, waiting, and then finally it’s up to get the medicine (Holy Communion), which is great because that means the Mass is almost over!
For many, personal prayer isn’t much better. It’s just another ritual: say some prayers and be done with it. God is really more of a stranger. Fasting is just another rule to follow, more out of obedience (to avoid punishment) than out of love, which seeks purification.
The disciples of John seem to have been of this sort. They were tough and self-disciplined; they knew how to fast! But it was a fasting of the flesh not the Spirit, and their pride seems to provide evidence of this. The only way to fast in a truly spiritual way is to have already been to the wedding feast and feasted with Jesus, the great bridegroom of the Church. Then, having been filled with every good and perfect gift, true fasting can begin.
So what is true fasting? It is fasting that no longer needs much of what the world offers because we have found a better prize: Jesus and His Kingdom. Who needs all that food, booze, power, money, baubles, bangles, and beads? In the words of an old gospel song, “I’d rather have Jesus than silver and gold. You may have all this world! Just give me Jesus!”
We can only say this, though, if we have really met the Lord and been satisfied by Him. Only then can true fasting ensue. As you may expect, meeting Jesus is more than a one-time event. It is a gradual, deepening awareness of Him and of His power in our life and in the liturgy. Make sure you don’t miss the wedding feast; it is the key to the truest fasting of all.
As we begin Lent, we do well to recall that we are engaged in a great and dramatic battle for our souls. The opening prayer for Ash Wednesday Mass makes use of the image of a military “campaign” and mentions weapons and battle: Grant, O Lord, that we may begin with holy fasting this campaign of Christian service, so that, as we take up battle against spiritual evils, we may be armed with weapons of self-restraint. The First Sunday of Lent lays out the tactics of the devil in terms of temptation, and relates how we must be prepared to refute and resist such things.
Every ancient prayer manual and guide to spirituality until about fifty years ago had at least one large section devoted to what was known as Pugna Spiritualis(spiritual battle or spiritual warfare). In more recent decades, many spiritual books have either downplayed or completely deleted references to spiritual battle or spiritual warfare.
Many modern approaches to faith, religion, and spirituality prefer to emphasize consoling themes rooted in self-esteem and affirmation. To be sure, the authentic faith can and does offer great consolation, but the truest and deepest consolation often comes after one has persevered along the sometimes-difficult path, along the “narrow way” of the cross. But too many today, in the name of affirmation and pseudo-self-esteem, are all too ready to excuse or even support grave moral disorders rather than fight them.
It is true that the Holy Father would have us focus on mercy this year. And so we should. But, paradoxically, mercy is a tactic of battle. Satan would “love” nothing more than for us to hold grudges and intensify our divisions through prideful resistance. He would prefer that we despair of God’s mercy or despair that it is even possible for us to live apart from sinful habits. Thus mercy is a tool of tactical genius; it breaks the cycle of negativity and sin and robs Satan of victories and of souls, snatching them back from the downward spiral of anger and despair.
Mercy does not mean saying that God doesn’t mind what you do. Rather, it means that saying that God loves you despite your sins and is extending to you a way out of the misery your sins have caused.
Grace and mercy are marvelously extended to us, but it is repentance that opens the door to these gifts. Repentance, too, is a battle tactic, because it embraces God’s daring move to break the satanic cycle of anger and despair. Repentance (metanoia) most literally means to come to a new mind, to a new way of thinking. Repentance is accepting God as our general and following His battle plans for our life. It is recognizing that sin is awful, but that grace and mercy are still extended to us and that we ought to accept and depend upon them. By unlocking grace and mercy, repentance deals serious blows to satanic plans and powers. To repent is to engage in the battle on the right side of the war.
In our times it is rare to hear spiritual realities being spoken of in warlike terms. Many prefer softer terms and images. Some are even outright offended at concepts such as spiritual warfare. Many hymnals have dropped older hymns that reference being on the battlefield for the Lord, or being soldiers in the army of the Lord.
With spiritual battle having been removed from many people’s spiritual landscape, the idea that the Lord would summon us to battle, or to ask us to choose sides, seems foreign, intolerant, and uncompassionate.
Even more dangerous, these modern conceptions not only distort Jesus, but they downplay the presence and influence of Satan. This is a very, very bad idea. Even if we cease fighting against Satan, he will never cease his sometimes very subtle attacks on us.
Jesus called consistently for prayerful, sober vigilance against the powers of evil and sin. Like it or not, we are in a battle. Either we will undertake the battle soberly and vigilantly, or we will be conquered and led off like sheep to the slaughter.
Contrary to the modern spiritual approaches, Christianity has been a militant religion since its inception. Jesus was exposed to every kind of danger from the beginning. Herod sought His life. Satan tried to tempt Him in the desert. Many enemies plotted on all sides as He worked His public ministry, misrepresenting Him, levying false charges, and conspiring to sentence Him to death (eventually succeeding, though only for a moment).
And as for Jesus, so also for His mystical Body, the Church: Saul, Saul why do you persecute me? (Acts 9:4) Jesus warned that the world would hate us (Luke 21:17, John 15:20), that in this world we would have tribulation (Jn 16:33), and that we should watch and pray lest we give way to temptation (Matt 26:41). He summons us to persevere to the end if we would be saved (Mk 13:13). Jesus rather vividly described the kind of struggle with which we live when He said, From the time of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has suffered violence, and men of violence take it by force (Matthew 11:12). Indeed, no Christian until the time that Jesus returns can consider himself dismissed from this great spiritual battle, this great drama in which we exist, this battle between good and evil.
Unpopular theme or not, we do well to remember that we are in the midst of a great cosmic and spiritual battle. And in that battle we must be willing to choose sides and fight with the Lord for the Kingdom of God. Either we will gather with Him or we will be scattered. We are to fight for our own soul and the souls of those whom we love.
In Lent we move toward the awesome battle we call the Paschal Mystery, in which Jesus will conquer Satan’s pride by humility and obedience. We are reminded once again of the great cosmic battle that the Lord waged and that is still being waged today. Though already victorious in His mystical Body the Church, the Lord in His faithful members still suffers violence, rejection, and ridicule. Lent is a time to reclaim territory from the evil one, to take back what the devil stole from us. We are to advance the glory of God’s Kingdom through the fruits of great spiritual struggle, sacrifice, prayer, fasting, preaching, and an extensive missionary campaign to which the Lord has summoned and commissioned us.
The battle is on; the struggle is engaged! To spiritual arms, one and all! Fight the good fight for the Lord.
Still not convinced that we are at war? Let the Lord pull back the veil just a bit and let you look at what’s really going on. The final words of this article will not be mine; they will be the Lord’s. Here is described the cosmic battle that is responsible for most of the suffering and confusion you experience:
A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days. Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.” When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus (Rev 12).
Here’s a great video reminding us that the Church is more a battleship than a cruise ship:
Photo Credit: Jaclyn Lippelmann for the Catholic Standard
As a boy, I remember wondering why so many people liked to rush to Church to get ashes smudged on their foreheads. Frankly, I had some revulsion at the idea of having dirty ashes smeared on my forehead. I didn’t like it at all and would secretly rub them off when no one was looking. Today, though I’ll admit I still don’t like it too much, I behave myself and don’t rub them off!
I pray that this doesn’t seem impious, but I still marvel at how many people pack into Church to get ashes on their forehead. Sadder still, some who come don’t seem to want Holy Communion nearly as much. In fact, in some of the parishes where I served in the past, significant numbers walked out the door after receiving ashes and did not stay for Communion.
Of course most people who come to Mass are faithful and have their priorities straight. But it still interests me how large the numbers are for something that seems to me so unappealing and also challenging.
Indeed, the sign of ashes is quite challenging if we come to terms with what it really means. We are saying some pretty powerful stuff and making some extensive promises of a sort.
What do ashes signify? Perhaps a brief tour of Scripture is in order:
Humility – Job said, “You [Oh Lord] asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:3-6).
Notice that Job does not merely repent in a general sense. Rather, having encountered God, he realizes that God is God, and that he, Jacob, is a creature, mere dust and ashes in the presence of God, who is being itself, who is all in all. Yes, Jacob is a son in the presence of a Father; he is not God’s equal that he might question God or put Him on trial.
Hence in this case the ashes represent not only repentance, but humility as well. The Church’s liturgy echoes this theme of humility in quoting Gen 3:19 “Remember, you are dust and unto dust you shall return” as the ashes are placed on the individual.
A Reminder of death and a call to wisdom – After Adam sinned, God told him, By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return (Gen 3:19).
As he imposes the ashes, the priest usually recites some form of this passage. And memorable though it is, consider an even blunter form: “You are going to die.”
This is a salient and sobering reminder that we often get worked up and anxious about passing things, while at the same time being unmindful of the certain and most important thing, for which we really must be ready. We tend to maximize the minimum and minimize the maximum. Sadly, like the man in one of the Lord’s parables, we can amass worldly things and forget the final things. To him the Lord said, “You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?” So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. (Luke 12:21-22).
Thus, to consider our final end is wise; to fail to do so is foolishness defined.
Ashes are a sacramental that points to the Sacrament – The Old Testament declared, You shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They shall be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing; it is for purification from sin … For the unclean person, put some ashes from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water over them. Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle the tent and all the furnishings and the people who were there (Numbers 19:9, 17).
This text shows ashes obtained from a burned sin offering and mixed with sprinkled water as a cleansing ritual. In the Old Testament, this ritual could not actually take away sin (cf Heb 9:9-13) but it did provide for ritual purity. It also symbolized repentance and a desire to be free from sin.
In the same way, ashes on Ash Wednesday (mixed with holy water) cannot take away sin. They are a sacramental, not a sacrament.
To receive ashes on Ash Wednesday and then not go to confession some time during Lent is really to miss the point. If one really desires to repent and be clean from and free of sin, then from the sacramental of ashes one goes to the Sacrament of Confession. Otherwise the ritual of Ash Wednesday is pointless.
A sign of a true change – Scripture says, When the news [of Ninevah’s possible destruction in forty days] reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust (Jonah 3:6).
Here, too, repentance is symbolized. But the symbol alone is not enough; actual repentance is required. The king does not just “get ashes”; he issues a decree calling for fasting, prayer, and true reform: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish (Jonah 3:7-9).
Hence another option for the priest to say as he places the ashes is, “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.”
It is not enough to get a sooty forehead. True repentance is called for, an actual intent to change. Otherwise the ashes are a false sign.
A summons to faith and a new mind – Jesus said, Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes (Matt 11:21).
Jesus rebukes ancient towns for their lack of faith in what He said. It is good to recall that the Greek word translated here as “repented” is μετενόησαν (metenoesan), which more literally means “to come to a new mind or way of thinking.”
The fact is, there are many ways that we think about things that are more of the world than of God. Our ongoing challenge is to come to a new mind and to think more as God thinks. This is only possible by His grace, working through Scripture and Church teaching.
It is significant that the ashes are smeared on the forehead or sprinkled on the head. We are called to a faith that transforms our mind. We are called to be transformed by the renewal of our minds (Romans 12:2).
Hence another option for the priest is to say, “Repent and believe the Good News” as he imposes the ashes.
So, how real are your ashes? Do you intend the things described above as you go forth? Or is it just a ritual, something to do because it’s “sorta neat”? Pray and reflect on the deeper meaning of the ashes.
There is a remarkable passage in the breviary from Diadochus of Photice (pronounced Di-áh-do-cuss of Fóe-tah-chee). Little is known of his life. He lived from around 400 to 485 A.D. He was a mystic and theologian who particularly refuted Christological heresies and upheld the teachings of the Council of Chalcedon. He became bishop of Photice, a region in northwestern Greece. His writings emphasized the stillness, rest, or quiet that is necessary for spiritual insight and growth. The excerpt we shall examine here is surely part of that tradition. It is all the more necessary in today’s loud and hectic times, in which most people struggle to find the time and/or place to reflect and thus fail to live reflective lives.
In Catholic and biblical tradition there is a balanced insight concerning the human person that acknowledges the great and crowning gift of our intellect and the capacity to reason, to know truth, and to have insight. It is, along with our freedom to choose and to love, our most God-like quality. As such, it is esteemed and serves as a basis for our capax Dei (our capacity to know and be addressed by God and to make a personal response to Him).
On the other hand our intellect is wounded by the effects of Original Sin and the accumulated effects of our personal sins, which tend to darken our mind. Thus, while it is possible for the mind unaided by grace to come to knowledge of God’s existence and of His attributes and laws, grace is useful—even necessary—to overcome the difficulties due to sin. The Catechism puts it this way:
In the historical conditions in which he finds himself, however, man experiences many difficulties in coming to know God by the light of reason alone:
Though human reason is, strictly speaking, truly capable by its own natural power and light of attaining to a true and certain knowledge of the one personal God, who watches over and controls the world by his providence, and of the natural law written in our hearts by the Creator; yet there are many obstacles which prevent reason from the effective and fruitful use of this inborn faculty. For the truths that concern the relations between God and man wholly transcend the visible order of things, and, if they are translated into human action and influence it, they call for self-surrender and abnegation. The human mind, in its turn, is hampered in the attaining of such truths, not only by the impact of the senses and the imagination, but also by disordered appetites which are the consequences of original sin. So it happens that men in such matters easily persuade themselves that what they would not like to be true is false or at least doubtful.
This is why man stands in need of being enlightened by God’s revelation, not only about those things that exceed his understanding, but also “about those religious and moral truths which of themselves are not beyond the grasp of human reason, so that even in the present condition of the human race, they can be known by all men with ease, with firm certainty and with no admixture of error (CCC 37-38).
Yes, so much grace is needed to assist our minds in grasping the deeper things of God and of what He has revealed and done. Our minds do have the capacity to grasp the basics, but even the basics sometimes escape us due to the weight our sin, our disordered desires, and the darkness caused by these things. Our minds are like a battleground and though they are wired for truth, the world, the flesh, and the devil sow discordant thoughts in us that compete for our attention and distract us from the higher and better things. It is something like a computer that is capable of processing the finest and most sophisticated mathematical algorithms, but is instead used to play silly, violent, and/or lurid video games.
Along with grace, much effort is needed to purify our intellects and direct them to things that enrich us, and to the One whom we really seek.
That leads us to this teaching of Diadochus of Photice who, out of respect for the glory of our minds, directs us to the healing remedies of God’s grace and revelation. His words are presented below in bold, black italics, with my poor comments following in plain red text.
The light of true knowledge makes it possible to discern without error the difference between good and evil. Then the path of justice, which leads to the Sun of Justice, brings the mind into the limitless light of knowledge, since it never fails to seek the love of God with all confidence.
Note that he speaks of the remedy of true knowledge. True knowledge is what God has revealed in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition. These are a sure guide that opens the path of the intellect to God Himself and to all He has revealed to us, in an ever-deepening and more confident understanding.
Therefore, we must maintain great stillness of mind, even in the midst of our struggles. We shall then be able to distinguish between the different types of thoughts that come to us: those that are good, those sent by God, we will treasure in our memory; those that are evil and inspired by the devil we will reject.
A comparison with the sea may help us. A tranquil sea allows the fisherman to gaze right to its depths. No fish can hide there and escape his sight. The stormy sea, however, becomes murky when it is agitated by the winds. The very depths that it revealed in its placidness, the sea now hides. The skills of the fisherman are useless.
These are powerful words for us in this age of almost constant noise. So overstimulated are we that many cannot even fall asleep unless the radio or TV is on in the background. Silence and the slower pace of normal human life comes close to terrifying many today. Silence is deafening, even terrifying, to a world used to such a chaotic pace and loud volume. If I leave a little room for silence after the homily or after communion I can almost feel the tension. I can imagine the thoughts of the congregation: “When will this end? When is he finally going to get up and say, ‘Let us pray’?”
But our author summons us to reacquaint ourselves with holy silence, with being still. And in this stillness reflection can happen.
He uses the image of still waters, which permit us to see into the depths, to carefully discern and slowly ponder what is true, good, and beautiful, and to distinguish it from the things that merely masquerade as such. When the waters are stirred and stormy, nothing can be seen—nothing. Only in silence, in disciplined quiet and reflection, can many things be seen, experienced, and discerned.
Some axioms from Scripture come to mind: Be still and know that I am God (Ps 46:10) and Silence! God stirs from his holy throne! (Zech 2:17).
These Scriptures and our author point to a discipline that is possible to us, but we must cultivate it. Holy silence and peace of mind do not just happen. Even though these gifts can be assisted by the Holy Spirit, there is also a discipline we must learn and acquire by habit.
Have you ever driven to work in silence? Have you ever unplugged from your cell phone? Perhaps this is something to try for Lent, even if only for 15 minutes. Become accustomed to more silence. Is it really necessary to turn on the TV or radio the first thing in the morning?
Everything is hard at first. Try just five minutes of quiet. Ask for the gift from God. See if you can grow it. Silence is essential if we hope to hear the quiet whispers of God, and to reach that place where insight and recollection are possible.
Only the Holy Spirit can purify the mind: unless the strong man enters and robs the thief, the booty will not be recovered. So by every means, but especially by peace of soul, we must try to provide the Holy Spirit with a resting place. Then we shall have the light of knowledge shining within us at all times, and it will show up for what they are all the dark and hateful temptations that come from demons, and not only will it show them up: exposure to this holy and glorious light will also greatly diminish their power.
Only the Holy Spirit alone can really purify the mind. But we have to open the door. The Holy Spirit can do His work, but He will not turn off the radio, TV, video games, or cell phone for you; that’s your job. The Holy Spirit will not barge in. He respectfully waits for you to give Him a place in your life. Diadochus emphasizes that cultivating peace of soul, by God’s grace, gives permission to the Holy Spirit to enter and do His work. And once having a place, He will crowd out that which is dark and demonic.
This is why the Apostle says: Do not stifle the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of goodness: do not grieve him by your evil actions and thoughts, and so deprive yourself of the defense his light affords you. In his own being, which is eternal and life-giving, he is not stifled, but when he is grieved he turns away and leaves the mind in darkness, deprived of the light of knowledge.
Wow, it would be bad news if we turned the Spirit away with a stifling no. And thus the darkness and anxiety remain in our minds. And if the light in you is darkness, how deep will the darkness be! (Mat 6:23) And yet this explains exactly the state of many today: in an ever-deepening darkness. The noise of this world is all they know; the quiet light of truth seems both dull and obnoxious.
The mind is capable of tasting and distinguishing accurately whatever is presented to it. Just as when our health is good we can tell the difference between good and bad food by our bodily sense of taste and reach for what is wholesome, so when our mind is strong and free from all anxiety, it is able to taste the riches of divine consolation and to preserve, through love, the memory of this taste. This teaches us what is best with absolute certainty. As Saint Paul says: My prayer is that your love may increase more and more in knowledge and insight, and so enable you to choose what is best (from the treatise On Spiritual Perfection, by Diadochus of Photice, bishop (Cap. 6, 26. 27. 30: PG 65, 1169. 1175-1176)).
Amen, Lord. May it be that when in quiet and trust our minds find peace, we become strong and lightsome and savor the beauty of your truth and the delights of your kingdom! May this Lent find us more quiet and watchful, giving a place to your Holy Spirit.
Are these the last days? In some sense the planets are aligning. But hold your horses; let’s speak carefully of these matters.
Last week in the Breviary we read First and Second Thessalonians, which are important source texts for such considerations. I’d like to look at a critical passage from Second Thessalonians, which lays out some important principles for us in the last days, balancing caution with teaching us about the signs that will point to His coming (though not the exact date).
The passages from 2 Thessalonians are presented in bold italics; my commentary follows each selection.
I. Reserve – Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way.
We begin with the need for reserve. St. Paul is teaching that we are not to rush to judgment, concluding that the Day of the Lord is at hand. And this remains true today, some 2000 years later. He teaches that in these matters we are easily deceived.
If we do give way to rash conclusions and hold to a certainty of the Day of Judgment, we violate the most basic principle of eschatology.
But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man … Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming … You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect (Matt 24: 36-44).
That said, there are certain signs that the Lord gave concerning the close of the age. St. Paul speaks of some of them in Thessalonians. The catechism enumerates them as follows:
1. the going forth of the Gospel to the ends of the earth,
2. a widespread conversion of the Jews,
3. a significant trial and persecution of the Church,
4. a great and widespread rebellion or apostasy,
5. the arising of a “man of lawlessness,” who will deceive the nations and lead many astray, including many Christians who will reject the faith (apostasy), and
6. a final unleashing of grave evil for a brief time.
I have written extensively about the Catechism’s teaching HERE.
II. Rebellion – For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first.
St. Paul speaks of a widespread rebellion that must first take place. This suggests that the faith has been accepted, but is now cast off. Those who rebel are those who, once having the law, cast it aside.
We are without doubt living in times of a great falling away from the faith that can be called, properly understood, a great apostasy. Again, to say that there is a falling away from faith means that, at one time, the faith was possessed but then later rejected.
In our times this is true of both individuals and cultures. Indeed, many of us lament the decline in Mass attendance and express dismay that so many who were raised as Catholics have not only left the practice of the faith but also live apart from her moral and doctrinal teachings, which have been handed on from ancient times. This is not just a statistic; it affects many in a deeply personal way. Many parents lament the departure from the faith of their children, for whom they sacrificed so that they could attend Catholic schools, and to whom they sought to hand on the faith they themselves had received.
Yes, these are difficult times, times of a great rejection of the very faith that made the culture. Many now live off the carcass of a culture built by the Christian vision of sacrifice, discipline, tolerance (properly understood), family, generosity, and accountability to God.
But is this the rebellion of which St. Paul speaks? That remains to be seen, but it is without doubt a rebellion that is wide and deep in the formerly Christian West. Arguably, the rebellion extends far beyond the Christian West, to the Far East and deep into the southern hemisphere. Surely the ease with which we communicate around the globe today has assisted in making this rebellion so widespread.
III. Revelation – And then the lawless one will be revealed … The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception … And the man of lawlessness [will be] revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
And after or perhaps in the midst of this rebellion, the lawless one will be revealed. Whoever he is, he will have widespread, worldwide appeal as well as the ability to mislead many if not the vast majority.
Here, too, we see the ominous fact that the modern age has made possible such a leader who could have worldwide impact.
But this does not mean that he is here now, or that he will be here soon, only that the capacity for instant worldwide communication has made this possible. While some have wanted to identify the man of lawlessness (sometimes called the antichrist) as Hitler, or the President of the United Nations, or certain United States presidents, none of these figures seem to qualify. None of them have led the whole world astray; their impact has been limited chronologically and geographically. For example, Hitler did lead many astray and conquered large parts of Europe, but entire nations together rose up against him. They were not deceived by Hitler, who is now in a stone-cold tomb.
So it would seem that the lawless one has yet to appear.
Yet it must also be said that with the rise of secularism, atheism, and strident anti-theism, the stage is increasingly being set for someone who can easily oppose himself (as St. Paul says) to every aspect of God and worship of God and who will be able to exalt himself in the place of God. Perhaps he will be a great scientist who claims to be able to create life and to explain every aspect of what we ascribe to God.
In so doing, he will deceive many. Science can say what and how, but it cannot say why. And no matter how advanced science or industry gets, it can never make something from nothing. But many are easily deceived by those who use existing matter and claim they have “created.”
Whatever the deception that comes, there’s clearly a lot of groundwork that is been laid for such a man of lawlessness: instant worldwide communication, rampant secularism and atheism, and arrogant anthropocentrism.
IV. Remember – Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?
Paul simply asks us to remember, to allow these teachings to be present to our mind and heart so that when these things unfold we will not be deceived. Jesus also instructed the disciples as to what was to come so that when these things did come they would not be led astray: These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling (Jn 16:1).
V. Restraint – And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.
Here St. Paul teaches us that something is currently restraining the lawless one from appearing. If he could, Satan would push the matter right now, but something is restraining him. What is it? Certainly it is God. But the means by which God accomplishes this is most likely the Church. Through grace, the power of the Sacraments, the proclaimed Word, and the liturgy, Satan’s power is restrained in certain ways.
But at some point known only to God, even this restraining power will no longer be enough and the lawless one’s time will come; he will appear.
Does this mean that the Church will grow weak? Perhaps, but not in any absolute sense, for the Lord has said, I am with you all days, unto the end of the age (Mat 28:20). But arguably, if a large number of Catholics fall away from the faith, there will be fewer prayers being said, fewer graces bestowed, and less light in a dark world. Jesus did ask, poignantly, When the Son of Man comes, will he find any faith on earth? (Lk 18:8) But even if we do shrink in numbers, the Church is indefectible; she will be here to the end.
So the best explanation seems to be that there will come a time when the Lord will no longer restrain the evil one from making his final attack.
Why God allows this is even more mysterious; it is somehow tied up in our freedom and in a certain Job-like purification that God permits for the Church. And this leads to St. Paul’s stated reason for the coming of the lawless one.
VI. Reason – [This lawless one will come] for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
The text speaks of God as sending a strong delusion on many so that they may believe what is false. We must be careful in interpreting these sorts of descriptions. They certainly refer to the primary causality that God has in everything that happens. Being the sustainer of all things, God is always the first cause of everything that takes place.
However, a text like this should not be seen to mean that God forces people to believe error. Rather, He is allowing to become plainly visible what was already the case in the will and the mind of those who are rebellious. Prior to the strong delusion that God permits, they had already (as St. Paul says) taken pleasure in unrighteousness and did not believe the truth. These are descriptions of the human will; God permitting the strong delusion simply makes plain but was already operative.
VII. Result – the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.
So in the end God wins. God always wins; the truth always conquers. Many today are easily bewildered by the apparent triumph of evil in our world, but it is only temporary; it is but a watch in the night that the dawn will scatter. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (Jn 1:5). One of the Psalms says, I have seen my enemy towering and triumphant; I passed by again and he was gone, I looked for him but he could not be found (Ps 37:36). Yet another Psalm says, Weeping may endure for a night, but joy will come with the morning light (Ps 30:5).
Do not be dismayed, fellow Catholics, at the current darkness. Whether this is the final end, or merely another ripple in the storm-tossed sea of history is yet to be known. But this much is clear: the darkness cannot endure; dawn inevitably comes. The cross always wins; Satan always loses. Satan will have his moments, but God has have His day. Satan may be the prince of this world, but Jesus is the Lord of history and all creation. The victory is already His. It’s just that the news has not yet leaked out to his persistent enemies, who are playing for the losing team.
This text is clear: whatever the apparent glamour of evil, Jesus, by His glorious appearance, will bring Satan and all of his works to nothing.
Today’s gospel describes the call of Simon Peter. It is a call that takes place in several stages. And while it is presented in a compact time frame, for most of us it takes place over a longer period, as the Lord works to deepen our faith and heighten our call. The upshot of today’s gospel is that Peter’s faith is strengthened by his obedience to the Lord’s command.
Let’s see how the Lord grows Peter’s faith.
I. The Help that isn’t Hard– The text says, While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
It may astonish us, but God seeks our help. What did Peter have? He had a boat at the ready and, as we shall see, a tender heart. What do you have? All of us have talents, gifts, access, availability, special aspects to our personality, and so forth that God can and wants to use. And the way the Lord has set things up, He “needs” our help. God, who made us without our help, will not save us without our help. Call this what you will: cooperative grace, collaborative grace, or my personal favorite, responsible grace; but God seeks to engage us in our own salvation and in the salvation of others. God wants our help.
The main point here in terms of Peter’s progression in the faith is that this initial request (to put out from shore) is just a small thing; it’s not hard for Peter to do. It is a small way for him to learn the obedience of faith.
This is where the Lord begins, with both Peter and us. He trains us in greater obedience by means of smaller things. Don’t overlook the small, daily acts obedience to the Lord. Through them the Lord trains and equips us for great things. If the Lord can trust us in small matters, He can and will trust us with greater things.
But soon enough, as we shall see, the Lord deepens Peter’s faith and heightens the call.
II. The Hesitation that must be Healed – The text says, After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Simon said in reply, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets”
Peter is willing to do something routine for the Lord. After all, how much does it take to let the Lord use your boat for a little while? But now the Lord invites Peter to go a little deeper, to “put out into deep water.” For a moment Peter hesitates. He is tired and, frankly, discouraged. So much work and so little to show for it. There was probably some doubt in Peter’s heart and a hint of sarcasm in his voice, because later he repents and calls himself a sinful man. Yes, here is a hesitation that must be healed if Peter is ever to see his blessings and reach his destiny.
And so, too, for some of us. Perhaps we’ve heard the Lord calling us to some task, but hesitated because we were tired or discouraged. It’s one thing to come to Church and say a few prayers. But please, Lord, don’t ask anything more of me.
Perhaps we are fearful. Deep waters bring greater threats. As the water gets deeper the stakes get higher. But somehow we have to step out in faith, get out of our comfort zone, and head for deeper waters. Like Peter, we can hesitate and think of all sorts of reasons why what the Lord asks of us is not a good idea.
How is Peter healed of his hesitation? In a very interesting and countercultural way, Peter is healed by the obedience of faith; that is the central point of today’s gospel.
Yes, Peter’s healing is caught up in his acknowledgement that the Lord commands it. Peter says, But, at your command I will lower the nets. It is intriguing that Peter finds strength and consolation in the Lord’s command. Paradoxically, there is something freeing about being under authority.
We live in a culture that tends to regard authority with cynicism and even rewards some degree of rebellion. Further, our flesh tends to bristle at being under authority. But again, there is something freeing about being under authority.
As a Christian, I derive a lot of serenity and courage when it becomes clear to me that the Lord commands something of me. While the world may balk at the demands of the moral life and find much of it too difficult or demanding, I find that it is often enough for me to know that the Lord both teaches and commands it. This gives me both serenity and confidence. Even if some aspect of my flesh may hesitate, knowing that my Lord and His lawful representatives (my Bishop and the Magisterium) command something, frees me and gives me the courage to understand that I am doing God’s will. Any natural hesitancy I might have is often quickly dispatched when I realize that I am being commanded by the Lord.
On a given Sunday morning, a person might hesitate to go to Mass, preferring to sleep in, or perhaps finding it difficult somehow. But knowing that it is commanded in the Third Commandment helps him to overcome his hesitancy. The same is true for the rest of the moral Law and also certain vocational matters and actions required of the Christian, not under a general command but under a specific call from the Lord.
In this way of obedience the Lord draws Peter to deeper waters. Peter’s hesitation must be healed if he is to see his faith deepen and his call heighten.
III. The Harvest that is Hauled– The text says, When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that the boats were in danger of sinking.
In this matter the Lord grants Peter a great grace: enjoying the fruits of obedience in a very immediate way. In other cases the harvest is not so immediate but this much is always true: it is promised and it will come, whether today or years from now!
The Lord says elsewhere, using a more terrestrial image: the harvest is plentiful (Mat 9:37). What the Lord is doing here is giving Peter (and us) an audio-visual aid. Obviously the harvest that the Lord heralded was not about fish; it was about human beings. Indeed, the harvest is plentiful! Consider all the people whom the Lord has touched after these humble beginnings in a backwater of Israel. Not only are there the 1.2 billion Catholics in the world today, but there are countless others who lived before us, and many (only God knows how many) who will come after us. Yes, it is a bountiful harvest.
Some days and times are better for fishing or harvesting than others. St. Paul speaks of the gospel as being “in season and out of season” (2 Tim 4:2). But even in those times that the Lord designates for pruning, or for the field to lie fallow, He is only preparing for future growth. For He says, “the harvest is plentiful” and His Word prevails.
In the West it seems that the seasons have turned against us. But we must remember that even in winter the farmer must stay busy preparing the soil, removing the rocks, and laying down fertilizer.
Yes, the Lord is heralding a harvest and we must work, no matter the season. Even if we do not see the full harvest, the Lord will, and so will others. Jesus says elsewhere, Thus the saying “One sows and another reaps” is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor (John 4:37).
The bottom line is, just do your work. Obey what the Lord commands and know that a harvest is heralded and will be hauled in. The nets will be strained and the boats heavily weighed down. The harvest will come and it will come with abundance. Just keep working and obeying what He commands.
IV. The Humility that Heightens – The text says, When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him, and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon. Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.
In falling to his knees, Peter is about to raised higher by the Lord. Peter realizes that his hesitation and doubt has been sinful, and that had he persisted and not obeyed the Lord, he would have blocked his blessings.
Notice that Peter is not described as having a cringing and devastated humility, but rather a healthy humility.
Healthy humility raises us; it does not cast us down. Bowing in healthy humility heightens our status; it does not crush us. The Lord, having led Peter to a healthy obedience and humility, in effect tells him, “Come up higher. Your concern now will not be fish, but rather the care of human souls who are precious to me. You will be my co-worker in a far more important enterprise.” Yes, healthy humility raises us.
And thus Peter’s humility is a productive one. It is the godly sorrow of which St. Paul writes,
Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while—yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done (2 Cor 7:8-11).
Peter’s humility is productive because it is godly. It is a humility and sorrow that equips him for greater duties, duties no longer related fish but to human souls.
How different this is from mere shame (which Paul calls worldly sorrow)! Shame usually locks us into unhealthy, paralyzing self-loathing. Godly sorrow increases our zeal to do God’s will and thereby equips, empowers, and enables us when God calls.
And the Lord does call. Peter, through obedience and humility, is now ready to leave everything and follow Jesus. The Lord has led him to this point in stages. It began with a request for help that wasn’t hard, a small obedience. But then the Lord called him deeper, to a more difficult obedience. Peter needed to have his hesitation healed. Experiencing this healing, he hauled in a harvest that illustrated what his lack of faith and obedience might have cost him. It humbled him but also heightened him. Having his faith deepened in Jesus, Peter is now ready to follow the Lord. It is always better to walk in humility and obedience than in pride!
In all of this, don’t miss the key, the golden chord: At your command, I will lower the nets. Faith is rooted in obedience and humility. That is the key to our growth as disciples.
St. Peter is still a rookie, but his first season holds great promise. We will see that he will not go without his injuries, but in the end he, too, will be the rock (in Christ) who is ready to roll.
Some years ago in a previous parish assignment (St. Thomas More, in Washington D.C.) I was accustomed to taking a Friday afternoon walk in order to focus on my Sunday homily. At the beginning of the walk I’d often stop by the house of an elderly parishioner, Ms. Lillian, and give her Communion. Her mind was beginning to fail and it was difficult for her to get to Church.
In mild weather she would often be out on the front porch in her wheelchair. As approached she’d say, “Oh Father, it must be Sunday!” “No, Lillian,” I’d usually reply, “It’s actually Friday.” And then she’d usually respond, “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”
When I answered her I was thinking of the calendar, but she was long past worrying about what day the world said it was. And so, Friday after Friday, she’d keep asking me if it was Sunday. It was Friday, but she kept looking for Sunday. “Is it Sunday, Father?” “No, Ms. Lillian, today is Friday.”
The world has a popular saying, “Thank God, it’s Friday.” But in the Church, especially among the African-Americans whom I serve, there is an older expression: “It may be Friday, but Sunday’s coming.” It is a thoroughly biblical context in which Friday represents our sufferings, our personal “Good Fridays,” while Sunday represents our rising from the dead, our joy, and the fulfillment of our hopes.
When Ms. Lillian saw her priest she thought of Sunday; she thought of Jesus and Holy Communion. So, in a way, for her it was Sunday, if only for a moment. To be sure, Lillian was in the “Friday” of her life. She suffered from many of the crippling effects of old age: dementia, arthritis, weakness, poor hearing, and eyesight problems. “I’s gotten so ooooold, Father,” she’d say. Yes, Friday had surely come for Lillian.
At her funeral I could think of no better way to begin the Homily than by saying, “It’s Sunday Ms. Lillian; it’s Sunday.” And the congregation nodded. Some just hummed, while others said, “Thank you, Jesus.” Lillian had gone to Jesus and Sunday had come. Surely she, like all of us, needed some of the cleansing purgation through which the Lord wipes away the tears of all who have died (cf Rev 21:4) and lifts the burdens of our sorrows, regrets, and sins for the last time. For those who die in the Lord, die in the care of the Lord. The souls of the just are in the hand of God (Wis 3:1).
Yes, it’s Sunday, glorious Sunday, for all those who trust in the Lord. The Fridays of life will come, but if we trust in Him, Sunday will surely follow.
“Oh, Father! It must be Sunday!” ”Yes, Ms. Lillian, it is surely Sunday.”
I thought of Ms. Lillian when I watched this video. I hope you’ll enjoy a little wisdom from the “Black Church.” Good preaching, good reminders, powerful video.
People oversimplify Original Sin in various ways. Some reduce it to the mere eating of a piece of fruit rather than the act of disobedience, mistrust, and ingratitude it really was.
