Three individuals came to mind as I read today’s gospel. The first is a married woman, distressed because her husband left the Catholic Church for an anti-Catholic sect which is pressuring her to join too.
The second is a recent high school graduate preparing for college. She’s concerned that her faith will be challenged on campus through peer pressure, ideas and philosophies she’ll encounter in class, and a culture sometimes hostile to her religion.
An elderly Chinese bishop is the third person. He was recently featured in National Geographic, and he recalled years of government persecution of the Catholic Church in his native land.
On account of their Catholicism, all three experience opposition- from family, society, governments, other religious groups. Just as Jesus said the twelve apostles would face. His words to them in today’s gospel are words which are just as true for us today, because we too encounter resistance to our faith.
In a nutshell, what Jesus says to us is: don’t be surprised when it happens; trust in the Spirit when it does; be shrewd but simple; and persevere throughout it all. If we do, chances are we’ll find our faith is stronger in the end. The Chinese bishop, who is witnessing a Church renewal in his country, knows this well. “The more the suppression,” he said, “the more the rebound.”
Some years ago in a previous parish assignment, St. Thomas More, in Washington DC, I was accustomed to take a Friday afternoon walk to focus on my homily for Sunday. At the beginning of the walk I’d often stop by the nearby house of an elderly parishioner, Lillian, and give her communion. She was quite elderly, her mind was beginning to fail and for these reasons it was difficult to get to Church. In mild weather she often be in her wheel chair on the front porch and, as I’d walk up she’d say, “Oh Father! It must be Sunday!” “No, Lillian,” I’d usually say, “It’s actually Friday.” And she’d usually say, “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”
I was thinking of the calendar most times I answered her, but she she was long past worrying what day the world said it was. And so, Friday after Friday, as I’d stop by she kept asking if it was Sunday. Friday it was, but she kept looking for Sunday. “Is it Sunday, Father?”…. “No Ms. Lillian, today is Friday.”
The world has a saying: “Thank God, it’s Friday.” But in the Church, especially among African Americans whom I serve, there is an older expression: “It may be Friday, but Sunday’s coming.” It is a thoroughly Biblical reflection wherein Friday represents our sufferings, our own “Good Fridays” and Sunday represents our rising from the dead, our joy and the fulfillment of our hopes.
When Lillian saw her priest, she thought of Sunday, she thought of Jesus and Holy Communion. So, in a way for her it was Sunday, for a moment. But, to be sure, Lillian was in the Friday of her life. She had all the crippling effects of old age: dementia, arthritis, weakness, hearing and eyesight problems, sugar, and you name it. “I’s gotten ooooold, Father.” Yes, Friday had surely come for Lillian.
At her funeral I could think of no other way to begin the homily than to say, “It’s Sunday Lillian.” And the congregation nodded, some just hummed, 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 wherein the Lord wipes away the tears of all who have died (cf Rev 21:4) 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, Sunday, glorious Sunday, for all those who trust in the Lord. The Fridays of life will come but if we trust, Sunday will surely follow.
“Oh, Father! It must be Sunday!” ….”Yes, Ms. Lillian, it is surely Sunday.”
Money is something that many people worry about, and most couples fight over. When it comes to our money, the Lord certainly calls us to be good stewards of it. But he doesn’t want it to be a source of anxiety or conflict.
Just consider what Jesus told his apostles in today’s gospel. He instructed them to:
Travel lightly;
Live simply;
Trust that the Lord would provide; and
Be concerned, not about money, but with doing the Lord’s work.
This was his commandment to his apostles. And it’s his good advice for us.
The video at the bottom of this post is of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. It is a fascinating excerpt from a longer video he did, where he analyzes the diabolical (anything of or relating to the Devil), from several different perspectives. In the excerpt I present, he identifies three characteristics of the diabolical by examining the story of the Gerasene demoniac, depicted in the synoptic gospels. Here is the story as Luke presents it:
They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” For Jesus had commanded the evil spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places. Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him.. (Luke 8: 26-30)
You will then recall how Jesus drove the demon(s) out and into the herd of swine.
From this story and also based on an insight from a psychiatrist of his time (the talk was given in the mid 1970s), Bishop Sheen sets forth characteristics of the diabolical:
Love of Nudity – For the text says: For a long time this man had not worn clothes.
Violence – For the text says: though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains. Mark 5:4 more vividly adds: For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him.
Division (Split Personality and divided from others) – for the text says, many demons had gone into him. Mark’s version has the demoniac reply My name is Legion, for we are many. (Mk 5:9). Further all the texts say the demoniac lived apart from others, in solitary places.
So here are three characteristics of the diabolic.
It does not take much analysis to see how these three characteristics of the diabolic are alive and flourishing in the modern world, at least the Western branch of it. Let’s consider them
1. Love of Nudity– This is clearly manifest at several levels. First there is the widespread tendency of immodest dress. We have discussed modesty here before and ought to note that modesty comes from the word “mode” referring to the middle or to moderation. Hence, while we want to avoid oppressively puritanical notions about dress that impose heavy burdens (especially on women) and regard the body as somewhat evil, we must also critique many modern forms of dress at the other extreme. These “fashions” reveal more than is reasonable and generally have, as their intent to draw attention to aspects of the body that are private and reserved for sexual union in marriage. Too many in our culture see little problem parading about in various stages of undress, wearing clothing that are more intended to disclose and call attention to, than to conceal the private areas of the body. This love of disclosure and titillation is surely an aspect of the Evil One’s love of nudity, and he has surely spread his obsession to many in the modern West.
Pornography, though nothing new in this fallen world, has surely reached epidemic proportions via the Internet. Any psychotherapist, counselor or priest will tell you that addiction to pornography is a huge problem among people today. Pornographic sites on the Internet outpace all others tenfold. Multimillion Americans are viewing enormous amounts of pornography and the “industry” is growing exponentially. What was once hidden away in adult bookstores is now one click away on the Internet. And the thought that browsing habits are easily discoverable matters little to the addicts of this latest form of slavery. Many are on a steep slope downward into ever more deviant forms of porn. Many end up at illegal sites before they even know what has happened to them, and the FBI is knocking on their door. Satan’s love of nudity has possessed many!
The overall sexualization of culture also ties in to Satan’s love of nudity. We sexualize women to sell products. We even sexualize children. Our sitcoms chatter endlessly about sex in a very teenage and immature sort of way. We are, collectively, goofy and immature about sex, and our culture giggles like horny teenagers obsessed with something we don’t really understand. Yes, Satan loves nudity, and everything that goes with it.
2. Violence – We have discussed here before how we, collectively, have turned violence into a form of entertainment. Our adventure movies and video games turn violent retribution into gleeful entertainment and death into a “solution.” Recent Popes have warned us of the culture of death, where death is increasingly proposed as the “solution” to problems. In our culture violence begins in the womb, as the innocent are attacked and it is called “choice” and “rights.” The violence and embrace of death continues to ripple through culture through contraception, violent gang activity, easy recourse to war and capital punishment. The past Century was perhaps the bloodiest ever known on this planet and untold people in the hundreds of millions died in two world wars, hundreds of regional wars and conflicts, horrific starvation campaigns in the Ukraine, in China and elsewhere, genocides in Central Europe, in Africa and Southeast Asia. Paul Johnson, in his book Modern Times estimates that over 100,000,000 died in war and violent ways in the just the first 50 years of the 20th Century. And with every death, Satan did his “snoopy dance.” Satan love violence. He loves to set fires, and watch us blame each other as we burn.
3. Division – Satan loves to divide. Archbishop Sheen says that the word “diabolical” comes from two Greek words dia+ballein, meaning “to tear apart.” My own study of Greek, poor that it is, does not yield this result. Rather dia means “through” or “between” and ballein means “to throw or to cast.” Nevertheless, the Good Archbishop was a learned man and I ask you Greek Scholars to set me straight and defend Bishop Sheen.
But, even still, it is clear that the devil wants to divide us, within our very own psyche and among each other. Surely he rejoices at every division he causes. He “casts things between us” (dia+ballein)! Diabolical indeed. And thus, we see our families divided, the Church divided, our culture and Country divided. We are now divided at almost every level: racial, religious, political, economic. We divide over age, race, region, blue and red states, liturgy, music, language, and endless minutia.
Our families are broken, our marriages are broken. Divorce is rampant and commitments of any sort are rejected and deemed impossible. The Church is broken and divided into factions, so too the State, all the way down to the level of school boards. Though once we agreed on essentials, now even appeals to shared truth are called intolerant.
And within too, we struggle with many divisive drives and forms of figurative and literal schizophrenia. We are drawn to what is good, true and beautiful and yet what is base, false and evil also summons us. We know what is good, but desire what is evil, we seek love, but indulge hate and revenge. We admire innocence but often revel in destroying it or at least replacing it with cynicism.
And Satan dances his “snoopy dance.”
Three characteristics of the diabolic: love of nudity, violence, and division. What do you think? Is the prince of this world working his agenda? Even more important: are we conniving? The first step in over-coming the enemy’s agenda is to know his moves, to name them and then rebuke them in the Name of Jesus.
Thank you Archbishop Sheen. Your wisdom, God’s Wisdom, has never aged.
Pay attention to What the Good Archbishop has to say:
A story is told of seminarians who asked a professor to choose a Scripture verse to print at the bottom of their class picture. Evidently the professor didn’t think too highly of this group, because the verse he suggested was John 11:37. When the seminarians opened their Bibles, they were distressed that John 11:37 says, “Jesus wept.”
One wonders if the professor would have chosen this same verse for a class portrait of the first twelve apostles, whose appointment by the Lord we heard in today’s gospel. At times, they were certainly a less-than-impressive group of people. They frustrated Jesus because they often didn’t “get it.” Simon Peter could be hot-tempered and cowardly. James and John were vengeful and proud. Thomas had his doubts. And then of course, there was Judas, the greedy betrayer.
However, all this should remind us that the Lord uses less-than-perfect people to do his work, spread his gospel, build his kingdom, and be his friends. This was true of the Twelve apostles. And it’s certainly true of us.
This can console and encourage us, because sometimes we look at ourselves and think: “Why on earth would God choose me?” The truth is, all of us are bundles of imperfections, weaknesses, and sins. Yet Jesus calls us as we are and uses us as we are. Yes, he invites us to greater holiness and gives us the grace to grow into his image. But he doesn’t wait for us to be perfect in order to make us his servants. If Jesus used only perfect people, not too much would get done, because it would be just he and his Mother. That’s why, as the old slogan goes, “Jesus doesn’t call the qualified; he qualifies the called.” He qualified the apostles, and eleven of them became saints! And that’s his plan for us, too.
If I were to ask you what the purpose of advertising is, you would likely answer that it’s purpose is to increase the sales and profits associated with a product. And you would be right. Advertising also exists to build brand recognition and good will toward a product, making people more inclined to use it with greater frequency.
With this in mind consider the following excerpt from an article in the Telegraph, a newspaper in the U. K.
TV advertisements for commercial abortion clinics given go ahead
– Private clinics which carry out abortions will be allowed to advertise on television and radio for the first time, under new rules.
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By Laura Donnelly, and Jonathan Wynne-Jones
9:00PM BST 02 Jul 2011
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Under the draft recommendations, drawn up by the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice, which regulates TV and radio commercials, dozens of independent hospitals carrying out abortions will be able to advertise their services to consumers.
Until now, restrictions have meant abortion clinics can only advertise their services if they are not run for profit. Because of the rules, just one advert, by charity Marie Stopes International has ever been aired, last year, to great controversy, and more than 4,500 complaints.
Last night Joanne Hill, from the pro-life charity Life expressed “utter disbelief” at the recommendations, which she described as unacceptable. She said: “To allow commercial abortion providers to advertise on TV, as though they were no different from car companies or detergent manufacturers, is shocking and exceeds the bounds of responsible advertising. “By suggesting that abortion is yet another consumer choice human life is trivialised and the distress and heartache faced by a woman making this irrevocable decision, which ends the life of her child, is glossed over.”
The new code for TV and radio advertising, on which consultation began last week, has also angered pro-life groups because it says that if they run commercials promoting services offering counselling to pregnant women, they must make explicit the fact they would not refer for terminations.
Ann Furedi, chief executive of bpas said: “BPAS [an abortion provider] is a charity that promotes choice; we have no interest – financial or otherwise – in encouraging women to have abortions.
Well, of course the final line is questionable at best. Since the purpose of advertising is to increase sales, and BPAS make its money on the abortion, it is rather a stretch to ask me to believe that they are not trying to drum up an increased number of abortions. According to a section of the article not excerpted above, financial statements from abortion provider BPAS list increases in the number of terminations as significant goals achieved [in the last fiscal year]. Clearly their goal is to “sell” more abortions and that is why they want to advertise, to use their own words, “increase the number of terminations.”
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In this country Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers often claim that their only goal is to provide “alternatives” to women. They like, in their annual reports, to cloak the true numbers and percentages of abortion “services” they offer. But in 2010 a closer look at their data shows that 97.6 percent of pregnant women going to Planned Parenthood were sold abortions while 2.4 percent of pregnant women received non-abortion services including adoption and prenatal care [1, 2]. Almost 40% of its income is derived from selling abortions. Planned Parenthood is heavily invested in and dependent on selling abortions. They and other abortion “providers” have little interest in reducing the number of abortions.
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Speaking of Ad campaigns, you may recall that back in Christmas of 2008 Planned Parenthood outrageously ran their “Choice on Earth” campaign and included Christmas “gift certificates” that could be used for abortion services. It was a hideous reversal of the Christmas Feast that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. Planned Parenthood audaciously invited people to celebrate the Christmas season by purchasing gift certificates to help others terminate life by abortion and prevent it by contraception. Not so Merry Christmas indeed.
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Advertising, in any form has the goal of selling more of the product. Remember this, for TV ads promoting abortion providers will soon come to this land too. They will be thinly veiled as providing “alternatives” to pregnant women. But remember the goal. Ads may have a minor goal in providing information, but their major goal is always clear: sell more of the product and thereby, increase the profit.
Jesus’ heart was moved with pity, today’s gospel tells us, when he saw a troubled and abandoned crowd. Because they were like “sheep without a shepherd,” Jesus turned to his friends and insisted that they “beg” the “harvest master,” God the Father, for more “laborers”- people to serve them and help them.
This, however, begs certain questions: if this need is so urgent, why does it have to be begged for? If Jesus is aware of the situation, and presumably his Father as well, why don’t they just take care of the problem themselves? Why should we have to beg for something they already know we need?
It’s true that Jesus wants more laborers. That’s clear from today’s gospel. However, Jesus wants us to ask the Father for them, because he wants us to want the same things he wants, and to express those desires in prayer. It’s as simple as that. It’s a matter of our wills becoming aligned with God’s, which should be the whole focus of our Christian lives.
St. Catherine of Siena put it well: “You will show that you are indeed alive, when you harmonize your will with God’s.
Our Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose for us. In so doing, He has not only cleansed us from our sins by His Precious Blood, but has also made available for us an entirely new life by the power of His cross. St. Paul says, If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation, the old things are passed away, behold, all things are made new (2 Cor. 5:17). Now this is not a slogan. St. Paul is describing a reality that he and the early Christians actually experienced. He is describing the normal Christian life.
So then, what is the normal Christian life? It is to see our lives dramatically changed and transformed by the power of the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. By this power the Lord puts sin to death and brings forth the grace of His life within us. How could it be that the Lord died and rose for us and we should still be struggling with a tepid spirituality, a mediocre moral life, boredom, worldliness, and so forth? Is this the best that the death of the Son of God can do? Impossible! Jesus died and rose to give us a completely new life, a life that is increasingly victorious over sin, and marked by zeal and the joy of being in living conscious contact with God at every moment of our day. Yes, this is the normal Christian life; this is what Christ died to give us.
Yet, too many reduce the Christian faith to an abstraction, or to merely an intellectual set of ideas. They presume it is enough to know about God and about the faith. But God offers something far greater, not merely to know about Him but to actually know Him. In the Scriptures, the verb to know almost always implies something far greater than intellectual knowing. Rather, it usually describes something closer to what we call experience. To know means to have personally experienced in a deep and intimate way the truth about which we speak.
Consider some of the following scriptures and prayers from the liturgy and, as you read them, consider carefully that they are not to be understood as slogans or merely wishful thoughts. They are describing the normal Christian life:
If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation, the old things are passed away, behold, all things are made new (2 Cor. 5:17).
As Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4).
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Cor 3:18)
Our testimony about Christ has been confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor 1:6-7)
He rescued us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father (Gal 1:4)
In him a new age has dawned, the long reign of sin is ended, a broken world has been renewed and man is once again made whole (Easter Preface 4)
Grant, we pray O Lord, that we may always find delight in these paschal mysteries, so that, the renewal constantly at work within us, may be the cause of our unending joy. Through Christ our Lord (offertory prayer 4th Sunday of Easter)
So, if we consider these texts, we begin to see some of the elements of the normal Christian life:
Deliverance from sin and the world of sin
Walking in newness of life
Experiencing ever deeper transformation
A closer walk with God
Deeper love for God and for neighbors, even my enemies
An ever greater possession of the gifts of God
Having our faith confirmed by the evidence of our very lives
Joyful and eagerly looking for Christ to come
Is this what you expect from your relationship with Jesus Christ? It is rather sad actually how little most people expect from their life in Christ. To a large extent I have to lay the blame at the feet of us who preach. For, truth be told, there are not many sermons that teach God’s people to joyfully expect dramatic and powerful transformation. Too many sermons are just mini exhortations that we to try and do a little better. There is little of the vigorous hope and announcement of new life expressed scriptures above. Hence, most Christians don’t expect much more than to muddle through and make a little progress, and basically be mediocre. True sanctity is just for the saints.
But, as has already been said, mediocrity is not the normal Christian life. We cannot be content with anything less than living conscious contact with God who is more real than anything around us. Our faith should be the most real thing we experience. Christians have got to lay hold of the normal Christian life, begin to powerfully experience it and become personal witnesses to the truth of what we proclaim. The Gospel is not just information; it is transformation. And we are called to actually experience its power in our life.
If you don’t mind a little self promotion, I would like to say that I have recently published, through Now You Know Media, a series of 12 audio talks that explore the normal Christian life, a kind of “Theology of Transformation.” In the series which I’ve wanted to do for a long time, I explore some aspects of what it really means to know, that is, to experience, the new life that Christ died to give us. We consider how we can grasp this life more deeply and experience how the Lord ministers to us in our lives, through His Word, the Sacraments and the sacred liturgy. In the series we consider how the Gospel, the “good news,” is more than information, it is transformation. The Word of God does not merely inform, it performs.
The titles of the 12 talks are these:
Experiencing The Good News – Series Overview
Experiencing the Lord Personally – Living by experience rather than inference
Experiencing the life of Baptism – Dying with Christ and rising to new life
Experiencing the Freedom of the Children of God – What Chapter are you on?
Experiencing the Liturgy – Tedious rituals or transformative realities?
Experiencing Scripture – More than spectator sport
Experiencing the new mind – Not conformed but transformed
Experiencing the Father – Abba
Experiencing prayer – Learning from the Lord to pray
Experiencing the Moral life as transformation – Description more than prescription
Experiencing confession – Examine your examen
Experiencing growth – I’m not what I want to be but not what I used to be.
If you are interested in finding out more about the talks and purchasing a set either on CD or by download you can go here:
Since you read the blog there is a 10% off coupon code to be used at checkout: CP553
At any rate, if you would find these talks helpful, I am glad to make them available to you. There are also a lot of good talks and seminars by other speakers and teachers available at Now You Know Media that I have found helpful.
If you want a sample, the “video” (just an audio track actually) is here below. It is the first talk in my series.
Three individuals came to mind as I read today’s gospel. The first is a married woman, distressed because her husband left the Catholic Church for an anti-Catholic sect which is pressuring her to join too.
