Author: Msgr. Charles Pope

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Thirst as an image for prayer, as seen on TV

062714Scripture often uses thirst as an image for prayer and desire for God. And thus we read passages such as these:

Oh, God you are my God, for you I long; for you my soul is thirsting … My body pines for you like a dry weary land without water ... (Psalm 63:1-2).

Like the deer that longs for running streams, so my soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? (Psalm 42:2)

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled (Mat 5:6).

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them” (Jn 7:37-38).

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water” (Jn 4:10).

And there are many others besides those.

Thus thirst is a symbol for prayer and longing. And so when I see the commercial below, I know that although the guy says “Stay thirsty, my friend!” to make me want to buy beer, what he REALLY means to say is, “Get in touch with your longing for God and pray often, my friend!”

And so I say to you: “Stay thirsty, my friend!”

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From Simply Sentimental to Strong and Sure – A Consideration of Devotion to the Sacred Heart

062614I must say that in the past I was not always as on board as I should have been when it came to the Feast of the Sacred Heart. As a man, I have struggled especially with some of the Sacred Heart images of past years, especially from the 1940s into the 1970s that, frankly, made Jesus look like a bearded lady. Deep red lips, baby soft skin, “come-hither” look, “feminine” head tilt, long slender fingers, and strangely bent wrists all seemed too feminine for me.  See for example the image here:  Sacred Heart. Frankly, the feminized portrayal of Jesus made me cringe. “Maybe this works for some,” I thought, “but not for me.” Women are beautiful, but men shouldn’t look like women.

Then too, the whole notion of the heart has become rather distorted. The heart is thought of by most as the domain of sentimental feelings and romance. Stronger biblical notions of the heart were lost in favor of these sentimental and romantic ones.  So there was Jesus, pointing to His heart to indicate His love, but I experienced it through the current notion of sentimentality and romance. While the true teaching on the Sacred Heart was much richer and more proper, the version that reached me was distorted and had little appeal.

In recent years, I have tried to recover a more proper notion of the Feast of the Sacred Heart. I have done this by coming to understand the heart in a more biblical way. I have also done this by learning to understand the heart of Christ in a stronger way that is more helpful for me.

Recovering a more biblical understanding of the heart – In celebrating the heart of the Lord Jesus, we ought to see it in a more biblical way. In the biblical world, the heart did not exclude feelings, but feelings were thought of as more located in the gut. Things such as tenderness, mercy, love, and emotions were spoken of in terms more visceral than we are comfortable with today. Most of our modern translations do not render the Hebrew and Greek references, which speak of the “bowels of mercy”  in God or in the human person, literally.  Most modern translations render the Hebrew “bowels of mercy” as “tender mercy” and expressions such as “my bowels are moved within me” as “my heart is moved within me.” We just don’t talk about bowels today in polite company!

I say this to indicate that for the biblical writers, feelings, sentiment, and mercy were not usually located in the heart but elsewhere. You can see this if you get a rather literal rendering of the Hebrew and Greek such as the Douay Rheims or Young’s Literal Translation and refer to passages such as these: Gen 43:30; 1 Kings 3:26; Song 5:4; Is 63:15; Jer 31:20; Lam 2:11; 2 Cr 6:12; Phil 1:8; Phil 2:1; Col 3:12. While feelings such as anxiety, fear, romance, and tenderness were pondered in the heart, their real “place” was shifted down one level to the “gut” or viscera. We do have some vestiges of these ancient notions in expressions like “gut reaction” or “butterflies in my stomach.”

So what then IS the biblical notion of the heart? While not wholly excluding feelings, the “heart” in the Scriptures is the deepest part of us; it is where we “live.” It is where we deliberate, where our memories and thoughts are. It is where we process feelings and events. It is where we ponder what to do and then decide. It is where we reflect and consider the direction of our life and most deeply understand who we are and how we are related to God and others. It is the place of our decisions and where we set priorities. In short, it is the place where “I am” in the deepest sense. Most moderns locate this in the brain (or mind, a word that the Scriptures often use for a similar understanding), but the ancients located all this in the heart.

A broader and stronger notion of the heart – Hence, as we ponder the Heart of Christ on this feast of the Sacred Heart we do not wholly exclude His tender feelings for us. But we must also broaden our notions of what it means to celebrate the Heart of Christ. The Heart of Christ is where He lives and is most essentially His very self. Hence His human heart is a heart that first of all worships and obeys His Father. It is in His heart that He ponders His Father’s will and sets out to obey it. It was in His heart that He set his face like flint for Jerusalem (Lk 9:51) and said to this apostles, “the world must know that I love the Father and that I do just as the Father has commanded me” (John 14:31). It is in His heart that He decides to lay down His life for us: No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This command I have received from my Father (Jn 10:18). Isaiah had said of Jesus, Oblatus est quia ipse voluit (He was offered because he himself willed it) (Is 53:7). It is ultimately by Christ’s obedience that we are saved, and this was determined in His heart. His love was manifested by His decision to both obey His Father and die for us. This is deeper than emotion or feeling, though it does not exclude them. When the solider thrust a lance in His chest and heaved it open, there was revealed the human heart of Christ who resolutely chose to save us. There was also revealed the very heart of God, who loves us infinitely.

A heart tender but also strong – On this Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we celebrate not just that He loves us in an emotional sense, but even more, that He decided to die for us. He freely pondered what our salvation would cost Him and took up the cross. He chose to obey the Father for us. His love is tender but it is also decisive. The warmth of His love is sure but the wounds of His obedience also speak of a love that is strong and enduring unto the end.

Sentiment has its place but (perhaps because I am a man) I need more. On this Feast of the Sacred Heart, I am glad to point to a love that is strong, obedient, loyal, and sacrificial; a love that engages the battle on my behalf and summons me to follow; a  love that is not just visceral but is of the true and deep Heart of Christ, a heart tender but also strong.

This video has many images of Jesus (some better than others). Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!

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On the Paradoxical Freedom of Poverty as Taught by St. John Chrysostom

062514There is a saying that you cannot steal from a man who has nothing, and you cannot threaten a man who has nothing to lose. Of Jesus, the Son of Man who had no where to lay his head (Matt 8:20), this was surely true. The world had no claim on him, nothing to hook him or claim his loyalty. Even his life could not be taken from him for he had already laid it down freely (cf Jn 10:18).

St. John Chrysostom spoke of it boldly in a sermon that paints well the paradoxical freedom of poverty and the enslavement of riches and possessions.  More on that in a moment…

But first, consider that the heart of the slavery most of us experience comes from our attachments to this world. So easily do we sell our souls to its allurements; so easily does the world ensnare us with its empty promises and trinkets that so quickly become duties, distractions, and requirements. In our heart, we know how the things of the world weigh us down. But even knowing this, our addiction to things draws us further into the endless cycle of ever-deepening desires and the increasing inability to live without many burdensome things.

And it isn’t just things. The world hooks us with the mesmerizing promise of popularity, promotion, even fame. And in our desperate addiction to being popular, we come too easily to the point that we will do almost anything and make almost any compromise for popularity and advancement.

Jesus says, No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money (Matt 6:24).

Scripture elsewhere says,

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him (1 John 2:15).

Adulterers! Do you not know that the love of this world is hatred toward God? Therefore whoever chooses to be a friend of this world is an enemy of God (James 4:4).

But in the end, most of our slavery and anxiety is rooted in our love for this world and our fear of losing its pleasures, and its promises of power and popularity. It is without doubt the greatest of human struggles to get free from this world’s hooks and shackles and to become utterly free—free to follow the Lord unreservedly and with no fear of what the world might do in retaliation.

In one of his sermons, St. John Chrysostom describes well the human being who is utterly free. It is a magnificent portrait, and one he was largely able to exhibit not merely by his words but by his very life.

Born in 344 at Antioch, he became a young man very much admired for his brilliance and oratorical skills. In 374 he fled to the mountains to live quietly and to break the hold that the world had on him. After six years of “holy silence,” he worked quietly as a priest. But in 398, he was summoned to be bishop of Constantinople. He was beloved for his powerful capacity to preach and received the name “Chrysostom” (Golden mouth). Yet not all appreciated the freedom with which he preached, a freedom that led him to denounce vice openly, no matter who was doing it. He was exiled twice (in 403 and 407) by powerful enemies. And though his enemies tried to break his spirit and rob him of his joy, they could not prevail. Although he died on his way to his final exile (during a miserable journey in terrible weather), he died with joy, saying, “Glory be to God for all things. Amen.”

The world could not prevail over him; he did not fear it, for he owned nothing of it, and owed nothing to it. It had no hold on him.

And thus speaking not only from Scripture but from experience as he was being led into exile, St. John Chrysostom said,

The waters have risen and severe storms are upon us, but we do not fear drowning, for we stand firmly upon a rock. Let the sea rage, it cannot break the rock. Let the waves rise, they cannot sink the boat of Jesus. What are we to fear? Death? Life to me means Christ, and death is gain. Exile? The earth and its fullness belong to the Lord. The confiscation of goods? We brought nothing into this world, and we shall surely take nothing from it. I have only contempt for the world’s threats, I find its blessings laughable. I have no fear of poverty, no desire for wealth. I am not afraid of death nor do I long to live, except for your good. I concentrate therefore on the present situation, and I urge you, my friends, to have confidence …

Let the world be in upheaval. I hold to his promise and read his message; that is my protecting wall and garrison. What message? Know that I am with you always, until the end of the world!

If Christ is with me, whom shall I fear? Though the waves and the sea and the anger of princes are roused against me, they are less to me than a spider’s web … For I always say: Lord, your will be done; not what this fellow or that would have me do, but what you want me to do. That is my strong tower, my immovable rock, my staff that never gives way. If God wants something, let it be done! If he wants me to stay here, I am grateful. But wherever he wants me to be, I am no less grateful …

For though my body die, my soul will live and be mindful of my people (Ante exsilium, nn. 1-3).

Here is freedom. You cannot steal from a man who owns nothing, and you cannot threaten a man who has nothing to lose; you cannot deprive a man who has Jesus Christ.

Pray for this freedom.

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First the Bait, Then the Hook – a Sober Meditation on Temptation

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Satan, it would seem, does not act in an arbitrary manner when trying to tempt us. Rather, he is more of a master hunter carefully setting traps, or a skilled fisherman who carefully studies behavior in order to choose the most effective bait. Satan is calculating and clever.

Sadly, most of us are far less calculating and clever in seeking to avoid temptation and sin. We seem more often to engage in the wishful thinking that no trouble will befall us, and our strategy seems to depend more on “dumb luck.” Would that we were as ingenious in holiness as Satan is in trying to trap us! Jesus sadly and ironically observed, For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light (Luke 16:8).

Let us consider for a moment the notion of bait and hook, to use imagery from the fishing world.

Let’s consider first the bait. It is of course the purpose of bait to be alluring, to be attractive. If a fisherman were to lower an empty hook, or a hook with a rock attached to it, no fish would come near. So he chooses a bait that appeals to the fish: perhaps an insect, or some other morsel that promises a meal.

Thus in choosing a bait to attach to his hook, Satan will strive to render it appealing, even beautiful to us. He often casts a spell to hide the ugliness of sin and to distract us from the presence of the hook.

In our time especially, Satan cloaks ugly sins in exalted language, speaking of them as ways of giving us “freedom,” or “fulfilling ourselves.” Abortion is not the killing of a baby, it is “reproductive choice,” or “reproductive freedom.” Many exalt sinful acts by cloaking them in the language of tolerance, acceptance, etc. Still others exude a false compassion in declaring it licit to actively kill the suffering or to terminate the lives of children in the womb who have been given a poor prenatal diagnosis.

In ways like these, evil masquerades as good. Sins once thought of as clearly awful and ugly are now presented as good and even beautiful.

Of course other more traditional bait is still used by Satan as well: sex, money, glory, power, and so forth. Not all these things are bad in themselves, but they are presented in excess or in the wrong context. And how tasty, how attractive, how beautiful, how desirable they can seem!

And thus the bait: attractive, beautiful, and tasty. Scripture describes Eve’s assessment of the forbidden tree: the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it (Genesis 3:6).

But then comes the hook—there’s always the hook with Satan. Never forget this: the hook is always there with Satan. No matter how beautiful, reasonable, or desirable the bait may seem, there is always the hook.

With the bait of illicit sexual union dangled before us comes the hook. Perhaps it is addiction to pornography, ruined marriages, sexually transmitted diseases, AIDS, teenage pregnancy, single motherhood, absent fathers, abortion, higher divorce rates, broken families, improperly formed families, and terrible injustice to children.

With the bait of gluttony comes the hook of obesity, heart disease, high cholesterol, hypertension, arthritis, addiction to alcohol or drugs, and even death.

With the bait of greed for more and more possessions comes the hook. Perhaps it is credit card bills we cannot pay, perhaps it is slavery to a lifestyle we think we cannot live without but which drives us to need two incomes and work long hours. And thus we never really know our children or even enjoy the things we think we need. Perhaps it is the supreme frustration in realizing that no matter how much more we have, it will never be enough. Our eyes are never really satisfied with seeing, or our ears with hearing, or our will with amassing. For we seem to be insatiable; we want more and more as the hook of greed drives deeper within us, snaring our hearts so that Satan reels us in.

But there is always the hook; never forget that no matter how pleasing the bait may seem, there is always the hook.

We moderns are perhaps more foolish than those who came before us, for we live in a culture that is rather successful in at least temporarily hiding the consequences of many things. And thus our medicines and technologies may temporarily stave off the effects of too much food and drink or the diseases that come with sexually irresponsibility. So-called government safety nets, many of them well-intentioned and in some degree necessary, also expand to create the illusion of no consequences. Too easily and too repeatedly, many are bailed out from poor and foolish decisions. Thus we are just a little more able to maintain the illusion that the hook isn’t really there.

But the hook is there. There is always a hook with the bait.

Just a simple reminder: don’t forget the hook. With the bait comes the hook. The bait is about the hook. First the bait, then the hook; always the hook.

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25 Years a Priest. And a Wondrous Answer to a Question Both Ancient and Modern.

062314Today is the Feast of the Birth of John the Baptist. And twenty-five years ago today, on a blazing hot summer morning in Washington D.C. at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, I was ordained a priest.

May I tell you a strange truth? I remember nothing of it. I  have seen footage of it, but have no personal memory of the event. I don’t know why my memory is dead in this matter. Perhaps it is the implausibility of the former agnostic in me saying that I would obey the Cardinal Archbishop of Washington and all his successors. Perhaps it is the hippie of a teenager who listened only to The Who and Arrowsmith accepting the laying on of hands as the Gregorian Veni Creator was sung. Perhaps it is the cynical, stubborn, stiff-necked college student with the brass forehead saying that he accepted the mysteries of the faith and would base his life on them.

But of course there have been more dramatic moments in history. Surely the strange event of John the Baptist pointing to Jesus, a full grown man, and calling him the “Lamb of God” must rank up there with the stranger moments in history.

Yes, even more, on this Feast of the Birth of St. John the Baptist we celebrate the birth of the final prophet of the Old Testament. He stood at the culmination of the Old Covenant and emphatically pointed to the new. He drew back the curtain on all that the ancient prophets longed to see. His birth is a great harbinger of a new epoch, the final age of Man. When he points to Christ and then steps back, we see the Old Covenant yield to the new. One era is ending; another is beginning. This birthday bespeaks a coming sea change: something is ending, but something greater is beginning. Types, symbols, and shadows are about to give way to the true reality they signified.

A great and dramatic moment in this “old giving way to the new” occurs when the two meet by the riverside. (It is true, they had already met in utero, as Mary and Elizabeth shared company. John prefigured this riverside meeting by dancing for joy in his mother’s womb at the nearness of Christ). But the drama of this moment at the riverside cannot be overstated, for John supplies a strange and wonderful answer to a question asked 2,000 years before. And the answer he supplies to this question signals that the new has arrived.

To understand the moment we must go back in time to approximately 1900 BC. The place is a hillside called Moriah where Jerusalem would later be built. Abraham has been commanded there by God and has been told to prepare to kill his son, Isaac, in sacrifice. The text says that, upon arriving at the foot of Moriah,

Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”  “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb?” (Gen 22:6-8)

Do not miss the great foreshadowing here: a long-promised son, about to die, carrying wood upon his shoulders, ascending the very hillside where Jerusalem and Golgotha will one day be located. Yes this is a wondrous foreshadowing.

And then comes the great question to his father: “But where is the Lamb?” Yes indeed, where is the Lamb who will die so that I don’t have to? Where is the Lamb whose blood will save my life? Where is the Lamb?

Now you know the rest of that story: an angel stopped Abraham and then pointed to a ram with its horns caught in a thicket. And you may be excused for saying, “Aha, God did provide the lamb—end of story.” But truth be told, this ram, this lamb cannot really save Isaac “Because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Heb 10:4). Isaac’s death is merely postponed and then it is off to Sheol with him where he will lie and wait for the True Lamb who alone can give eternal life.

And so that question got wafted up onto the breeze and echoed down through the centuries that followed: “But where is the Lamb … where is the Lamb?”

And now we are standing by the banks of the Jordan River 19 centuries later. John the Baptist sees a full grown man coming toward him and says a very strange thing: “Look! There is the Lamb of God!” (Jn 1:29). Yes, there is the  true Lamb who alone can take away our sins. John the Baptist supplies a strange and wonderful, though long-delayed, answer to a question Isaac asked 1,900 years before: “Where is the Lamb?”  “THERE is the Lamb!”

Happy birthday of John the Baptist. His birth is the culmination of an age, an era, a Covenant. He is the last of the Old Testament prophets. His birth signals an end and a beginning. The Book of Hebrews says, By calling this covenant “new,” [God] has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear (Hebrews 8:13). Hence John would later say, “The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must increase; I must decrease (John 3:29-30).

And happy anniversary for me, a strange stand-in for Jesus, but somehow chosen by Him and ordained by Him 25 years ago today.  I do not answer the question “Where is the Lamb?” but rather, “What is He doing here?” At the end of the day, the answer can only be rooted in the mercy of God, who takes away the sins of the world, and of Charles Pope of whom He says, “You’ll do, though it will take a lot of grace.” I know only this: I am unfit to untie His sandal.

May God be praised for the mystery of His plan and the surprise of how He fulfills ancient promises: even me Lord, a strange stand-in for the Lamb of God, but here I am. I’m not sure I signal the beginning or end of anything, just a continuation of the ministry of the Lamb of God, who answered an age-old question and fulfilled an ancient dispensation. And just like John, who pointed to Jesus, here I am doing the same. Thank you, Jesus. The bride is all yours; I am but a worthless groomsman. But do have pity on me and help me to rejoice with you in your bride.

Go to the 3 minute mark to begin the footage of my ordination.

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Facets of a Faithful Father – A meditation on the role of a priest at the Feast of Corpus Christi.

062214Sunday’s Feast of Corpus Christi brought the first Masses of seven new priests ordained here in Washington. I was privileged to preach the first Mass of one of them: Fr. Aaron Qureshi. Since the readings suggest a kind of threefold office for the priest (related to teaching, governing, and sanctifying), I thought it might be good to present some of the notes from that homily on the blog today. Here then, from yesterday’s feast, are three facets of a faithful Father—of a faithful priest.

I. He Announces the Truth – Throughout the readings today we see Moses, St. Paul, and Jesus announcing fundamental truths for God’s people. Scripture says, For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts (Malachi 2:7). In today’s readings, four truths stand out that the priest should announce.

A. REMEMBER – Moses says to the people, Do not forget the Lord your God (Deut 8:14).  He also adds, Remember how for forty years now the Lord, your God, has directed all your journeying in the desert (Deut 8:2).  And hence, every priest must stand  before his people and say to them always (whether explicitly or implicitly), “Never forget the works of God. Do not forget what He has done for you.  Remember Him and what He has done for you!”

To remember means to have so present in my mind and heart what God has done for me, that I’m grateful and different.  Indeed, gratitude is a form of joy. And when we are grateful, an awful lot of poison goes out of our heart.  When you’re joyfully grateful, it’s pretty hard to despise your neighbor, or to be stingy and greedy, or to be vengeful and envious.  Yes, a lot of poison goes out of our system when we remember what the Lord has done for us; we are grateful, joyful, different.  At every Mass, the priest, as a Father, should remind his people never to forget the works of the Lord.

B. REJOICE – Here too, the readings today portray the priestly call for his people to rejoice in the Lord. And thus the Psalm says, Glorify the Lord O Jerusalem; praise your God oh Zion! (Psalm 147:12). And the beautiful Sequence Hymn says, Laud O Zion your salvation, Laud with hymns of exultation, Christ your king and Shepherd true.

And thus every priest, as a faithful Father, must summon his people to rejoice in the Lord. For the Lord only permits difficulty in order for some greater glory to be ushered in. Every priest  should say, as in the words of Scripture, “Do not be sad, do not weep, for rejoicing in the Lord must be your strength!” (Neh 8:10). Joy is the natural state of every Christian, and every faithful priest should summon his people to joy by being a man of joy, hope, and confidence himself.

Sadly, joy is not the first thing that many people see upon walking into a typical Catholic congregation. Too often the scene looks more like a funeral than the wedding that the Mass is supposed to be. While it is true that people express joy in different ways, joyous is not the first way most outsiders would describe a typical Catholic congregation. 

Every faithful priest, every Father should stand before his people and say “Rejoice,” not only with his words, but also by his demeanor, hope, and manifest confidence.

C. RE-CENTER – In the first reading, Moses says to his people, Not by bread alone does one live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God (Dt 8:3). Here too every priest, as a faithful Father, must exhort his people to center their lives on things that really matter. Too many of God’s people focus on lesser things such as sports and politics, or are overly concerned with money and how they stack up against other people, etc. But every faithful priest, every faithful Father must stand before his people and remind them, in the words of Isaiah,

Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good and you will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live (Isaiah 55:1-3).

Yes, Sunday after Sunday, the holy priest must remind the faithful of that which really matters and call them to focus their lives on heavenly and lasting things, rather than on earthly, passing things.

D. RECEIVE – Jesus warns in the Gospel today,  Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have a life in you (Jn 6:53). And thus every priest will celebrate the Eucharist for his people faithfully and will exhort them never to miss a Sunday.   His chief desire is to feed the people entrusted to his care and to warn them that if they neglect to feed on the Holy Eucharist of the Lord, they will have no life in them.

They will be like the children of Israel in the wilderness who would never have made it to the Promised Land if they had not faithfully eat the manna that God gave them to preserve them in the desert for over forty years. And neither will we make it to the heavenly Promised Land if we do not receive frequently our manna—the very Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ.

Every priest, every faithful Father must stand before his people and say, “Come, eat His Body which was broken for you and His Blood which was shed for you. Every priest will seek the lost sheep to restore them to the nourishment they desperately need, and without which they will die.

II. He Admonishes the Timid and Temperamental – In today’s Gospel, as the Lord Jesus announced the essential truth of the Holy Eucharist, He encountered many who were quarrelsome and murmured against Him.

And how does He deal with them? Upon hearing their protests, He does not compromise; He does not water down His teaching. Rather, He intensifies His teaching and warns them clearly.

When He tells them that they must eat His Flesh and drink His Blood, and they object, He warns them with the well-known Jewish expression: “Amen, amen I say to you!”  And then He goes on to say that unless (which is a very strong and exclusive word) “you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you will not have a life in you.” And He even intensifies His teaching by substituting an impolite word for eating: τρώγων (trogon), which means to gnaw on or devour.

So when it comes to an essential truth, Jesus does not water down or “cave.”  Rather, He solemnly reasserts the truth even more forcefully. He does this not to be argumentative, but because He loves them and does not want them to be lost forever.

And so too for the priest of God today. We live in quarrelsome times in which many murmur and protest: about the Eucharist to be sure, but also about many moral teachings. The priest of God, as a faithful Father for his people, must not water down the truth or compromise. Rather, he must speak the truth even more clearly. He must explain it with love in order to save his people from the error that can and will destroy them. Yes, like Jesus, every priest must speak the truth clearly and in love.

St. Paul admonished Timothy, Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but will surround themselves with teachers who will tickle their ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires (2 Tim 4:2-3).

All the more reason then that the priest of God must stand before his people, not counting the personal cost and the murmuring he may experience, and must speak the truth to them in love, the truth without which they will perish.

III. He Advances the Transformation of God’s People – It will be noted that in this brief passage the Lord Jesus presents the same truth four times:

i. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever;
ii. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life
iii. The one who feeds on me will have life because of me.
iv. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

Obviously, since repetition is the mother of studies, Jesus wants us to lay hold of this truth: if we receive his Body and Blood and follow him in faith, we will have eternal life!

And yet many misunderstand the concept of “eternal.” The Greek word  αἰῶνα (aiona) refers not merely to the length of life, but also to its fullness. Therefore, in offering us eternal life, Jesus is not simply saying that we will live forever in the sense of a very long time. Rather, He is saying that we will become more and more fully alive with Him, even now, and that one day we will enter into the glory of Heaven forever where we will be so alive that our life here will seem to have been a mere coma. St. Ireneus says that the glory of God is the human person fully alive.

Therefore every priest must stand before his people and announce to them a fuller life, a richer life, a more wonderful life—and not in some distant Heaven, but even now!  And he cannot be content merely to point to the possibility of such a thing. Rather, he must stand before them as a living witness, as one who has committed himself to prayer, to the Sacraments, to the Word of God, and to walking in holy fellowship with the Church, and must show that he is, even now, experiencing a life richer and fuller by the grace of the Sacraments working in his life.  He is not merely to announce to his people the richer and fuller life, he is to stand before them as a witness of it.

Of this, I myself can testify. At age 53, my body is heading south, but my soul is more alive than ever before.  I am more joyful and more confident. I love God more. My prayer life is coming alive; my mind and heart are being renewed. I’ve seen sins put to death and new graces come alive.  

Yes, every priest must be able to stand before his people as a living witness of how the Lord can transform our lives and bring us into the fullness of eternal life, even now. In this way, he helps to advance his people in the transformation that is the normal, the expected life of God’s people.

Here then are some facets of a faithful Father, gleaned from yesterday’s reading on the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ.

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Are You a Mouse or A Man? A Homily for The Feast of Corpus Christi

062114In many places this Sunday, the (moved) Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Our Lord is celebrated.

While you may puzzle over my title for today’s blog, allow me to explain it a bit later. On a Solemn feast like this, many things occur that might be preached and taught. Allow three areas for reflection: the Reality of the Eucharist, the Requirement of the Eucharist, and the Remembrance of the Eucharist. We will look at each in turn.

I. The Reality of the Eucharist – On this solemn feast we are called above all to faith in the fact (as revealed by the Lord himself) that the Eucharist, the Holy Communion, is in fact a reception of the very Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, whole and entire, in his glorified state. We do not partake of a symbol. The Eucharist is not a metaphor; it is truly the Lord. Neither is it a “piece” of his flesh, but it is Christ, whole and entire. Scripture attests to this in many places:

A. Luke 22:19-20 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after supper, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”

B. 1 Cor 10:16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a partaking in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a partaking in the body of Christ?

C. Luke 24:35 They recognized him in the breaking of the bread.

D. 1 Cor 11:29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.

E. John 6:51 “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

This last quote is from the Gospel for today’s feast. The passage is a profound theology of the Eucharist from Jesus himself, and He makes it clear that we are not permitted to think of the Eucharist in symbolic or metaphorical terms.

When He referred to the bread as His flesh, the Jewish people hearing Him grumbled in protest. Jesus did not seek to reassure them or to insist that He was speaking only symbolically when He said that they must eat His flesh. Rather He became even more adamant by shifting his vocabulary from the polite form of eating, φάγητε (phagete – meaning simply “to eat”) to the impolite form, τρώγων (trogon – meaning to “munch, gnaw or chew”).

So insistent was He that they grasp this, that He permitted many to leave Him that day knowing that they would no longer follow in His company due to this very teaching (cf Jn 6:66). Yes the Lord paid quite a price for His graphic and “hard” teaching (Jn 6:60).

Today He asks us, Do you also want to leave me? (Jn 6:67). We must supply our answer each time we approach the altar and hear “The Body of Christ.” It is here that we answer the Lord, “Amen,”  as if to say, Lord, to whom shall we go, you have the word of eternal life! (Jn 6:68).

If only everyone would grasp that the Lord Himself is truly present in our Churches! Were that so, one could never empty our parishes of those seeking to pray with the Lord. As it is, only 27% come to Mass regularly. This is more evidence of the narrow road and how few there are who find it. Just as most left Jesus then, many continue to leave Him now, or stand far away through indifference or false notions.

What father would not be severely alarmed if one of his children stopped eating? Consider then God’s alarm that many of us have stopped eating. This leads us to the next point.

II. The Requirement of the Eucharist – When I was a kid I thought of Church and Communion as just something my mom made me do; it was just rituals and stuff. I never thought of it as essential for my survival. But in John’s Gospel today, Jesus teaches something very profound about Holy Communion (the Eucharist). In effect, He says that without Holy Communion we will starve and die spiritually.

Here is what Jesus says, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you (John 6:53).

As a kid and even a young adult I never thought of Holy Communion as essential for my life, as something that, if not received regularly, would cause me to die spiritually. But it makes sense doesn’t it? If we don’t eat food in our physical lives we grow weak and eventually die. It is the same with Holy Communion.

Remember this in the Book of Exodus: the people were without food in the desert and they feared for their lives. So God gave them bread from heaven, called “manna,” and they collected it each morning. Without eating that bread from Heaven they would never have made it to the Promised Land; they would have died in the desert.

It is the same with us. Without receiving Jesus, our Living Manna from Heaven in Holy Communion, we will not make it to our Promised Land of Heaven! I guess it’s not just a ritual after all. It is essential for our survival.

Don’t miss Holy Communion! Jesus urges you to eat.

A mother and father in my parish recently noticed that their daughter wasn’t eating. Within a very short time they took her to the doctor, who was able to cure the problem; now the young girl is able to eat again. Those parents would have moved Heaven and Earth to make sure their daughter was able to eat.

It is the same with God. Jesus urges us to eat, to receive the Holy Communion every Sunday without fail. Jesus urges us with this word: “Unless!” Holy Communion is our required food.

III. The Remembrance of the Eucharist – The word remembrance comes up a lot in reference to Holy Communion in today’s readings. Consider the following passages from Scripture:

A. Remember how for forty years now the LORD, your God, has directed all your journeying in the desert … and then fed you with manna (Deut 8).

B.  Do not forget the LORD, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt (Deut 8:24).

C. Do this in remembrance of me … (1 Cor 11:24 inter al).

What is remembrance and why is it important? In effect, to “remember” is to have present in your mind what God has done for you so that you’re grateful to have it so present to you, so that you’re different. God has saved us, made us His children, and opened Heaven for us. Yet our minds are very weak and too easily we let this slip from our conscious thoughts. Thus, the summons to an ἀνάμνησιν (anamnesin) or “remembrance” that is so common in the Eucharistic liturgy is a summons to our minds to be open to and powerfully aware of what the Lord has done for us. Don’t just stand or kneel there, forgetting; let this be present to you as a living and conscious reality that transforms you!

Are you a mouse or a man? And now to address the puzzling question I posed in my title. Back in my seminary days we were given the example of a mouse who runs across the altar, takes a consecrated host, and runs off and eats it. We were then asked, “Does it eat the Body of Christ?” Yes! For the Eucharist has a reality unto itself. “But does it receive a sacrament?” No! A mouse has no rational mind. It eats the very Body of Christ, but to no avail, for it has no conscious awareness or appreciation of what (whom) it is eating. And so here comes the question: “Are you a mouse or a man?”

How do you receive Holy Communion? Do you go up mindlessly, shuffling along in the Communion line in a mechanistic way? Or do you go up powerfully aware of Him whom you are about to receive? Do you remember? Do you have vividly present in your mind what the Lord has done for you? Are you grateful and amazed at what He has done and what He offers? Or are you just like a mouse, receiving something mindlessly that has been put into your mouth?

Some people put more faith in Tylenol than they do in the Eucharist. Why? Because when they take Tylenol they actually expect something to happen! They expect the pain to go away, and for there to be relief and healing. But when it comes to Holy Communion, they expect next to nothing. To them, it’s just a ritual. Hey, it’s time to go up and get the wafer (pardon the expression).

Really?! Nothing? How can this be? Poor catechesis? Sure. Little faith? Sure. Boredom? Yes indeed. At some level it can be no better than a mouse eating a host. We are receiving the Lord of all creation, yet most expect little.

To this the Church says, “Remember!” “Have present to your mind all that the Lord has done for you and what he is about to do. Let this reality of the Lord’s presence be alive in your mind so that it changes you and makes you profoundly grateful and joyful. Become the One you receive!”

Jesus is more powerful than Tylenol, and we are men (and women), not mice.

On this Solemnity of the Body of Christ, we are summoned to deepen our faith in the Lord, present in the Eucharist and acting through His Sacraments. Routine may have dulling effects, but it cannot be such that we receive the Lord of glory each Sunday in any way that would be called mindless.

Ask the Lord to anoint your mind so that you remember and never forget.

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Faith is a Matter of Hearing, not Seeing – As”seen”on TV

062014As we approach the Feast of Corpus Christi, I thought it might be a good idea to reflect again upon the reality that faith comes by hearing—faith is about what is unseen. This is especially important to remember when it comes to the Sacraments, since what our fleshly eyes see remains unchanged, but with our ears the Word of Jesus speaks of a new reality unperceived by our eyes: “I baptize you … This is my Body … Be sealed with the Gift of the Spirit … They are no longer two, they are one, and what God has joined must never be divided …” These words convey the truth of a new reality that our eyes do not see. And thus we must learn to believe our ears rather than our eyes.

Now our flesh demands to see by its own unregenerate power; only then will the flesh say that it believes. But the truth is, our flesh often does not believe even when it sees. We’ll say, “Oh, they must have some way of doing that” or perhaps, “This is a trick, an illusion.” And in fact illusionists can do some pretty amazing stuff! (See the video below.)

But Scripture is clear to say that Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Rom 10:17). It also says, Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen (Heb 11:1). Even Thomas, who is said to believe only because he sees, is really professing something he cannot see: that Jesus is Lord and God (Jn 20:29).

For example, when it comes to the Sacraments we must believe our ears, for our eyes cannot see the reality that faith declares to be so. St. Thomas Aquinas’ beautiful hymn “Adoro Te Devote” contains the following:

  • Visus, tactus, gustus in te fallitur, (Sight and taste and touch in thee fall short)
  • Sed auditu solo tuto creditur; (But only the hearing is safely believed)
  • Credo quidquid dixit Dei Filius, (I believe whatever the Son of God has said)
  • Nil hoc verbo veritatis verius. (Nothing is truer than this word of truth)

And thus I must often remind people when it comes to the Sacraments:

  1. Eucharist – Though your eyes may still see bread and wine, believe your ears. This is my Body, This is my Blood …  (Matt 26:26 inter al). The Bread I will give is my flesh for the Life of the world … (Jn 6:51).
  2. Marriage – Though your eyes may still see a newly married bride and groom as two separate individuals, believe your ears. They are no longer two, they are one. What God has joined together let no one divide (Matt 19:6).
  3. Baptism – Though your eyes may see a newly baptized baby as unchanged, believe your ears. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased (Lk 3:21). If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation (2 Cor 5:17). We who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of God the Father we too might live in newness of life (Rom 6:4).
  4. Confession – A person emerging from the confessional may appear to be just the same, but believe your ears. “I absolve you from your sins.” Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven them (Jn 20:23).

As we approach the Feast of Corpus Christi, which are you going to believe … your eyes or your ears?

  • [For] we look not to what is seen but to what is unseen; for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal … for we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor 4:18, 5:7).
  • And to the Pharisees who claimed they could see (but still refused to believe) the Lord said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty, But you remain guilty because you claim you can see” (John 9:41).
  • And to those who do believe, the Lord says through Peter, You have not seen him, yet you love him; and still without seeing him you believe in him and so are already filled with a joy so glorious that it cannot be described (1 Peter 1:8).

Which are you going to believe, your eyes or your ears?

Your flesh demands to see on its own terms. But I promise you, even if you do see, your flesh will explain it away. Consider this video. Illusionists can do some pretty amazing things. But notice how quickly your flesh is willing to explain it all away. And in this case it should, for these are illusions. But what if you saw a real miracle? What do you suppose your flesh would do? What do you suppose?

Faith comes by hearing.