The maker of all humans beings (GOD) is recalling all units manufactured, regardless of make or year, due to a serious defect in the primary and central component of the heart. This is due to a malfunction in the original prototype units (code named Adam and Eve) resulting in the same defect in all subsequent units. This defect has been technically termed “Sorrow Inducing Non-morality (S.I.N.). Some of the symptoms include:
Loss of direction
Foul vocal emissions
Amnesia of Origin
Lack of peace and joy
Selfish or violent behavior
Depression or confusion in the mental component
Fearfulness
Idolatry
Rebellion
Sometimes the units are just plain mean.
The Manufacturer, who is neither liable nor at fault for this defect is providing factory-authorized repair and service, free of charge, to correct this defect. The Repair Technician, Jesus, has most graciously offered to bear the entire burden of the staggering cost of these repairs. Some of the following procedures will be necessary in this repair:
The disk in the heart component must be scrubbed clean of all viruses.
The mental component must be overwritten with new software, (especially WORD of God 3.0)
Virus Protection software (such as Pure Eyes 2.0) must be installed to protect the unit from further damage.
Connection to the Maker of all all human beings (GOD) must be re-established through the restoration of communication software in the unit. This is done by installing COMMUNION 2.0 Software.
Communications protocols must be upgraded to make sure that the unit says “only the good things men need to hear” and to be sure the unit speaks only that which is true.
Please bring your unit to the nearest Catholic Parish for immediate service. While it is true that WORD of God 3.0 is available for immediate download, an interpretive key must be installed on site at the Catholic parish. Without this interpretive key, WORD of God 3.0 may not function properly in the unit. Further, scrubbing the disk of the heart component can only be done by an authorized technician as well as the installation of COMMUNION 2. 0 software. Jesus has personally authorized these technicians to do the work necessary to repair your unit.
WARNING: Continuing to operate the human being unit without correction voids any manufacturer warranties, exposing the unit to further dangers and problems and will result in the unit being permanently quarantined. For more information on avoiding the “Hell sub-routine” send a kneemail to Jesus at: [email protected]
Please note that emergency service is always available. For information on the location of Catholic Churches and regular service hours go to www.masstimes.org
From the great basilicas to small convents tucked away in cobbled alleys, Rome is filled with houses of prayer. In today’s Gospel, Jesus reminds people that churches are for prayer and for the work of his father. Pilgrims have to make a choice today among some of the most beautiful houses of prayer in the churches of Santa Maria in Trastevere, San Clemente, Sant’Agnese, San Clemente and Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. A second outing will be to the Benedictine Monastery of Subiaco, where St. Benedict, founder of Western monasticism established his first monastery and nearby, his sister, Scholastica, a convent. It was Benedict and the life he established for his monks that has given us the great prayer of Lectio Divina. A third group will explore a very different place of prayer, the Roman catacombs, where families would gather at the burial spots of loved ones for prayer and to share a meal.
Read: Luke 19: 45-48
Reflect Pope Benedict XVI in reflecting on the place of pilgrimage in the life of a Christian said “it is also true that faith, according to its essence, is being a pilgrim…Faith is being a pilgrim above all interiorly, but it must also express itself exteriorly….
Although an interior spirit of pilgrimage is appropriate at all times, the Pope described how actually traveling to a holy site can draw out and enhance that interior spirit.”
He teaches us that by “leaving behind the everyday, the world of the useful, of practical goals […] to be truly on the path to transcendence”, the faithful can find “a new freedom, a time of interior rethinking, of identifying oneself” that enables us to see God more clearly.
Respond: Join our school children who will be wearing red today in honor of Cardinal-designate Wuerl and make a visit to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament at your parish or another that is on your route today.
This video I have posted below is an interview with Fr. Scott Hurd of the Archdiocese of Washington on the progress of implementing Anglicanorum Coetibus and the erecting of an Anglican Ordinariate. Fr. Hurd is an Anglican Convert. He had been an Anglican Priest and was ordained a Catholic priest over ten years ago. He is one of two married priests and former Anglicans now serving in the Archdiocese. He is assisting Cardinal Wuerl who has been tasked with helping to oversee the implementation of the outreach to Anglicans seeking communion with the Roman Catholic Church. I think you will find the interview engaging and informative.
Many people think of the Word of God as an “it” when in fact, the Word of God is a person, Jesus Christ. Jesus did not come merely to give us information and exhortation. He came to give us his very self. He is the “Word made Flesh.”
Pope Benedict makes this point in his most recent document, the Post Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Verbum Domini. I want to give an excerpt and then reflect briefly upon it.
[There is a] statement made by the author of the Letter to the Hebrews: “In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world ” (1:1-2)….. Here the Word finds expression not primarily in discourse, concepts or rules. Here we are set before the very person of Jesus. His unique and singular history is the definitive word which God speaks to humanity. We can see, then, why “being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a definitive direction ”.…. “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us ”(Jn 1:14a). These words are no figure of speech; they point to a lived experience! Saint John, an eyewitness, tells us so: “ We have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth ” ( Jn 1:14b). ….. Now the word is not simply audible; not only does it have a voice, now the word has a face….(Verbum Domini 11-12)
The Word of God is not merely on the pages of a book. The Word of God is not just an idea or ethical system. The Word of God is not just a set of teachings or doctrines. The Word of God is Jesus Christ. And to really grasp this Word can only take place when we meet Him, experience Him and His power active in our lives.
It is a danger to turn Scripture into an abstraction or just a text. St Thomas Aquinas says, The Son is the Word, not any sort of word, but one Who breathes forth Love. Hence Augustine says (De Trin. ix 10): “The Word we speak of is knowledge with love.” Thus the Son is sent not in accordance with [just] any kind of intellectual perfection, but according to the intellectual illumination, which breaks forth into the affection of love, as is said (John 6:45): “Everyone that hath heard from the Father and hath learned, cometh to Me. (Summa Prima Pars, 43.5 ad 2).
Hence we cannot really grasp Scripture unless we have met Jesus Christ. Further, to authentically read Sacred Scripture is to more and more encounter Jesus Christ there. Before we analyze a text of Scripture we are summoned to encounter the one who is speaking to us.
It is surely possible for some, even secular scholar to analyze a Greek text of Holy Writ and parse its verbs. Perhaps another scholar can analyze idioms, or the historical context. Such research can help us understand what the text is saying at a mechanistic level. But only a deepening and personal knowledge of Jesus Christ can help us to know what the text really means. It is this personal, historical, and on-going encounter with Jesus Christ that distinguishes true theology from mere religious study or literary criticism.
Indeed, theologians and Scripture scholars are dangerous if they do not personally know Jesus Christ. To “know” Jesus is not the same as to “know about” Jesus. I might know about Jesus Christ from a book or from some other person. But it is not enough to know “about” him. I must know him. To be a true “authority” in Scripture requires that we have met and know the “author.” Do you see the word “author” in “authority?”
Note how the Pope quotes the Prologue of John’s Gospel ”.…. “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us ”(Jn 1:14a). and then says, These words are no figure of speech; they point to a lived experience! The Pope also says above in reference to the Hebrews 1 text: Here we are set before the very person of Jesus.
In the Liturgical context of Scripture this fact is enshrined in our ritual. As the Priest or Deacon proclaims the Gospel, all the people stand out of respect. For, it is Christ himself who speaks to them and whom they encounter in this proclamation of the Word. At the conclusion of the proclamation of the Gospel, they acknowledge that they are encountering Jesus as they say to him personally: “Laus tibi Christe!” (Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ).
Hence, Scripture, and the wider concept of the Word of God, authentically interpreted by the Church, is not merely a book or a set of ideas. It is an encounter with a living God, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Word of God is a person, Jesus Christ.
Perhaps a couple of quick stories to illustrate the difference between seeing Scripture merely as a text, and seeing it as an encounter with the Word made flesh, Jesus.
1. A rural Appalachian community was visited by a Shakespearean actor. They were amazed at his elegant but strange way of speaking. At one moment in his public recital he recited the 23rd Psalm. The words were elegant, pronounced in finest King James English with great drama and flair. At the end of his recitation a strange silence filled the room. Where applause would usually follow, an awkward silence ensued. Finally a poor farmer in the back of the room stood and apologized that no one knew to applaud and that they meant no offense but they just weren’t sure he was done. “See, out in these parts we say it a little different.” The poor farmer then began, “The Loerd is mah shayperd….” When he completed the psalm the room was filled with amens and “praise the Lord”s. The Shakespearean actor then told the poor farmer, “I was elegant, but your words had greater power. That is because I know only the technique, but you know the author.”
2. Some years ago I heard a Black AME Preacher address an ecumenical gathering at a revival. And he said to the gathered, “You know I heard some strange stuff in seminary! The professors said Jesus never really walked on water, that he didn’t really multiply loaves and fishes, he just got folks to be generous. They said, he didn’t really know he was God, or rise from the dead. He just lives on in our thoughts or something…..Can you believe they taught me that in a Christian seminary?!” Through his description of these wretched “teachings” the moans and disapproval in the congregation of Protestants and Catholics were audible. He built his litany of faulty scholarship and you could hear folks saying, “Lord have mercy!” and “mah, mah, mah.” And then he stopped and mopped his brow, and looked at them and said, “I tell you what! The problem with them wasn’t that they read the wrong books, y’all. The problem with them was that they ain’t never met my Jesus!” Well the house came down and folks were on their feet for ten minutes praising God. The Choir too leapt to their feet and began the familiar chorus: “Can’t nobody do me like Jesus, he’s my Lord!”
Well, you get the point, when you’ve met Jesus Christ you just don’t doubt that he walked on the water, multiplied loaves, raised Lazarus, knew perfectly well that he was God and stepped out of the tomb on Easter morning.
The Word of God is not merely a text. It is a person, Jesus Christ, the Logos, the Word made flesh. And once you’ve met him his spoken (and later written word) begins to make greater and greater sense and there is just no doubt that this Word is true and powerful.
Let me let Pope Benedict conclude as we recall his words above: the Word finds expression not primarily in discourse, concepts or rules. Here we are set before the very person of Jesus….These words are no figure of speech; they point to a lived experience! Saint John, an eyewitness, tells us so: “ We have beheld his glory, the glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Here’s an OLD recording of the old classic “Can’t nobody do me like Jesus.”
The heart of a Roman pilgrimage is a tour of the four great basilicas. In the Jubilee year 1300, Pope Boniface designated the basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul as pilgrim churches to commemorate the two great founders of the Church of Rome. In subsequent years, the basilicas of St. John Lantern and St. Mary Major were added and today they offer a journey through the story of salvation and the spread of the Gospel in art, architecture and monuments. In A Pilgrims Guide to Rome and the Holy Land, we learn “the wealth of [this] deposit of the faith is made present and available to the pilgrim who journeys through the streets, squares, churches, and catacombs of Rome in search of deeper faith, hope, charity and conversion of life.” (A Pilgrims Guide to Rome and the Holy Land, pg. 173). The Archdiocese of Washington pilgrims are celebrating this liturgical memorial by visiting these four churches.
Read: Matthew 14:22-33
Reflect: Cardinal-designate Wuerl challenged pilgrims to think about thier responsibilities as evangelizers. In his homily at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, he said all of us should have the the evangelical zeal of Paul to bring the faith to all. Eeach of us is called to be an evangelist for the faith in these times–inviting others (family, friends, co-workers, neighbors) to or back to the faith with the same zeal as Paul.
Respond: Pray a prayer of thanksgiving for the gift of faith and the Roman Catholic Church in your life and the life of the world.
I have posted the excerpt of my funeral sermon a couple of times now (here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRdiYanbVR0 ). It is clearly a hard hitting exhortation to the congregation that they are going to die and must work to prepare for that day. It is not the only thing I say at a funeral. There are words of encouragement and notes of affection for the deceased and his or her family. But I spend the second half of the homily addressing the assembled and exhorting them to prepare for death. It is true fact that on 27% of Catholics go to Mass at all any more. The number for Protestants is higher, but not that much. Hence I am almost assured that almost 2/3rds of the assembled mourners are no longer attending Mass or a church. Most of them are not praying, reading scripture, and many, if not most, are in some pretty serious sinful situations and unrepented sin.
Now the usual approach at funerals has been to be “nice” and if sin, or purgatory, or judgment (or, God forbid, Hell), are mentioned at all it should be subtle, so subtle as to barely be noticed. Vague attestations of “we at the parish will surely pray for Joe’s happy repose and for you the family.” Somewhere the doctrine of purgatory is lurking in the saying but only a trained theologian could really see it.
Now when I have posted the excerpt of the funeral sermon, a lot of people indicate approval and agree that strong clear words are necessary. But a few, only a few really, find this approach problematic, mildly insensitive and even alienating. Nevertheless, I stand by it.
I had tried the more subtle approach for years. It didn’t really work and no one really took it seriously, if they even understood what I was “getting at.” I think prophecy needs to be clear, strong and unambiguous. I get a much better result that way. I can surely attest to the fact that more have returned to Mass on a regular basis as a result of strong words than ever happened in the years when the usual reaction to my ministration was, “Oh Father, you’re such a dear. What a heart-warming and consoling message!” These days, I usually get something more akin to, “Father, some of us in this family needed to hear that message” (Usually, said by one of the matriarchs). Or again, “Father, you really gave me something to think about” (usually from a son or grandson who hasn’t seen the inside of the Church since the last family funeral). I think in the end I am supposed to be more a prophet than “a dear.”
I have over 50 funerals a year. And for most of them the Church is packed with people I will only see once, or perhaps not until the next family funeral. I cannot wait for a “less delicate” time. It’s carpe diem (seize the day) moment. Someone has to warn them and that someone is me. God spoke to Ezekiel:
Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to a wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself. Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. Since you did not warn him, he will die for his sin. The righteous things he did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the righteous man not to sin and he does not sin, he will surely live because he took warning, and you will have saved yourself. (Ez 3:17-21)
Preaching is about saving before it is about consoling, and God makes this clear to Ezekiel and to every preacher. I think a lot of people think that preaching is supposed to merely please and encourage them. There is a place for that but good preaching also afflicts and provokes response. Jesus was more than willing to provoke people and unsettle them. It is not a goal in itself. Rather, it is the necessary outcome of lancing a spiritual boil or setting a broken limb. Protests, anger, and so forth are not necessarily the sign of failure. I’ve had people come to me and say, You once made me mad but you also made me think and I’ve come to understand what you were saying was true. A lot of times powerful preaching takes people through a cycle of: mad, to sad, to glad.
I think we have long enough tried the “nice guy” preaching that is extolled by many, as the model. But all through these past 40 years with that model largely operative, Mass attendance has steadily dropped. Currently, as noted, only 27% of Catholics attend Mass at all any more. We have, collectively become a rebellious house. God said the following to Ezekiel:
He said to me, “Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you.” As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. He said: “Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their fathers have been in revolt against me to this very day. The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’ And whether they listen or fail to listen—for they are a rebellious house—they will know that a prophet has been among them…..You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen. (Ez 2:1-7).
I do not suppose that the whole congregation at a funeral is a rebellious house, but it would seem, statistics being what they are, that the vast majority no longer have any seriousness about the faith. Mild mannered pleasantries have been tried for a generation now. The verdict is that stronger medicine is called for.
Now, as for Sunday preaching, generally conducted among those reasonably serious our their spiritual life, there is less urgency. But, here too I have found that people are generally hungry for preaching that is clear, enthusiastic, biblically based, and prophetically strong. Scripture says, For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? (1 Cor 14:8). Granted, I have preached in African American Parishes almost all my priestly life and there is a greater appreciation there for tough, hard-hitting, no compromise preaching. Some of my priest friends tell me that many of the things I say in my pulpit, they could not get away with saying. Too bad really, because I just preach right out of the scriptures. Too many congregations have become unaccustomed to hearing words like: hell, judgment, fornication, injustice, lies, evil, sin, and so forth. When some one does use them, there is a kind of shock and anger. But these are all common themes in the Scripture. Why should race or class have anything to do with familiarity with strong, biblically based, prophetically toned preaching? And why should so many Catholic have to endure superficial preaching because a priest fears he can’t get away with saying certain things? Fr. Bill Casey defines superficial preaching as: watered-down, filled with generalities and abstractions, devoid of doctrinal content and moral teaching, more akin to pop-psychology than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is not scriptural, it does not move, it does not inspire, it generates no enthusiasm for Jesus Christ, his Church or the Gospel and it has got to change.
And strong preaching is not ALL about the negative things. Strong preaching calls forth joy, enthusiasm, confidence, hope and encouragement in both the preacher and the congregation. Strong preachers have a tone in their voice which signals a zeal and excitement for the truth of God’s Word, even the hard things point to the power of grace to overcome sin and bring forth dramatic change.
The fact is, I think there is a general hunger for a return to vivid and strong preaching. I think this is more common among younger people, many of whom have had enough of polite but abstract sermons that preach ideas more than unvarnished Catholic and Biblical truth. I observe a hunger for strong preaching. I look at how popular priests like Fr. John Corapi, and Fr. Bill Casey are. Lay people too like Scott Hahn and Patrick Madrid don’t mince words, they say it plain. Looking back who can ever forget the great Archbishop Fulton Sheen? He was a real hero to me and I think I’ve listened at least once to every thing he ever preached. He too made it plain and did not apologize for preaching the cross and repentance as a prelude to victory. None of the men I have mentioned are dainty in any way. Among the Protestants I was always a great fan of Adrian Rogers, Pastor of Bellview Baptist in Memphis. He died a few years ago but I have listened to almost every sermon he taped. He was powerful, biblical and unapologetic. There were a few times where his content strayed from what I could agree with but I never doubted his deep love for God and his people and the reverence he had for the Word of God. Pastor Tony Evans too, a Protestant by trade but acquainted with things Catholic. A bold and powerful preacher. Men like these have inspired me and stepped on my toes too! Good preaching comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable, and, truth be told, we’re all in both categories.
Finally I will say that I think love is essential for strong preaching to reach its mark. The mark of a true prophet is that he really loves the people to whom he speaks and is zealous for their final good. The more people perceive that the preacher or teacher loves them, the more they can appreciate and accept the “hard sayings.” Further, if the preacher does not love the people to whom he speaks, he ends up only venting anger and getting things off his chest than really breathing forth love that can change.
How say you? I am putting a recent video clip of mine here below and links to a few of the men I just mentioned. Perhaps you too know some great preachers who are out there for the rest of us to hear.
A few days ago, I was out with a couple of friends. We shared a pizza and the usual, “what’s happening in our lives.” We found ourselves talking about the freedom that is found when we begin to practice living the presence of God – the kind of living that begs us to let go of the past and to hand over everything we fear about the future. The kind of living that calls out to us and asks us to live in this very moment. Ironically, or perhaps beautifully, it’s the kind of living that heals our past wounds and gives us the grace to overcome the fears we face.
When we practice living in the present moment something miraculous happens. We begin to open ourselves to receiving the gift of Jesus Himself – fully present, active and alive in our hearts. It’s easy in this world, especially as a young adult to become overwhelmed by what the future holds. We are continuously faced with questions like: Is this the right career for me? Is God EVER going to send me a husband or wife? Am I doing enough to care for and protect my family? Will these wounds from my past ruin my current relationship? Am I living God’s will for me? These questions often burden and sometimes even paralyze us. The questions in themselves are not bad – for God gave us the Holy Spirit to help us discern His will and dream (and dream big I might add). However, sometimes the questions block our minds and hearts from hearing the answers we are seeking. The good news – Jesus is fully present within us and waits for us with great joy and patience. He invites us to live with Him in the now, to be present with Him at this very moment and receive gifts beyond imagination. Sometimes He leaves us with answers we might not want, but we must trust in the fact that He always wants the best for us. Today let us ask for the grace to mindfully live with Jesus. Maybe we’ll be surprised at what He reveals to us!
Today, Pope Benedict XVI greeted pilgrims at the weekly audience. What a grand way to begin the Consistory pilgrimage! Read more about the audience. Following the audience, pilgrims left St. Peter’s to travel to the Church of St. Peter in Chains. Here we remember that Peter was imprisoned in Jerusalem and the chains at the base of the altar are said to be the chains that imprisoned him. While at the church, the pilgrims will also see Michelangelo’s famous statue of Moses with “horns.” These horns were popular among artists in Medieval time as a symbol of holiness because in Hebrew, the word for “beams of light” and “horns” is similar. The exterior horns are a sign of the interior radiance of the Lord.
Read: Luke 19:11-18
Reflect: Fr. Justin Huber was the celebrant of the Pilgrmage Mass and asked pilgrims to conside what our checkbooks and our calendars say about the outward expression of our interior lives.
“…the Lord uses this parable to speak to us about the perennial truths of the spiritual life. It is interesting to note that money is the tool that is able to store and transport material or worldly value. It acts as a neutral intermediary between good ands services, which can be converted into nearly anything. But, one could ask: could a carrier of material value be converted into something of spiritual value? Is there something that stands at this interface between the material and the spiritual?
It has been said that if you want to know what a person truly values in life, then look at their calendar and their checkbook. Time and money are the two resources that we use to acquire the things that we value. In our Gospel today, Christ is inviting each of us to invest what we value most. Beyond just time and money, he is asked each of us to offer over to him our entire life; this includes our gifts and our talents and all that we are. For, it is none other than Christ who stands at the interface between the material and the spiritual. Union with God is both the origin and the final goal of humanity and it is Christ who leads us back to the father. It is in Christ’s will, in the offering of our lives over to his will, that we find the opportunities that will lead to our own growth and that of the Kingdom of God. Anything less is not merely standing still, but it is moving backward.
On Wednesday, October 20th, shortly before announcing the Consistory, which will create 24 new cardinals, Pope Benedict XVI remembered the life of St. Elizabeth of Hungary. She offered over her life, the life of a noblewoman, to the service of the poor. As providence would have it, we celebrate her feast today, 779 years after this humble woman’s death.
Saint Peter also offered over his life. The humble fisherman, who became the Prince of the Apostles, placed his entire life, the good and the bad, in Christ’s hands and it was transformed. The chains beneath this altar, which are said to have bound him as he lie in prison in Jerusalem, were miraculously unfastened by an Angel, as accounted in the Acts of the Apostles. Today, we still venerate them as a sign of the transformative power of God. The place of his burial has now been transformed into the largest Basilica on Earth and has become a place of spiritual pilgrimage, a place were we will go to pray on Saturday morning as Cardinal-designate Wuerl will receive the red biretta and become Donald Cardinal Wuerl.
Indeed, even Rome stands as a visible witness to the transformative power of God. The art and architecture, which has transformed the city, dot the paths of the saints, who were transformed by God and who themselves transformed the Church. As we follow these paths on our pilgrim journey, we offer our lives anew to the Lord, who alone has the power to bring extraordinary growth from the ordinary offering of our daily lives.”
Respond
Take a look at your checkbook and calendar for the past month…what is it saying?
