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Must Read – A Church in Crisis: Pathways Forward by Ralph Martin

I am very pleased that Dr. Ralph Martin has published  A Church in Crisis: Pathways Forward. It is a revised and updated version of a critically important book he first published in the early 1980s. I call it a critically important book for personal and important reasons. Permit a brief story before we examine the book.

When I entered the seminary in 1984, it was a very dark time in the Church; darker even than now. At that time there was no official and agreed upon Catechism of the Catholic Church (that would come in 1994), there was no internet, and very few periodicals that presented a voice differing from the prevailing progressive views that dominated among parish priests, chanceries, Catholic colleges and seminaries. In a way it was like the wild West. Anyone could claim almost anything was Catholic and “in the spirit of Vatican II.”

Upon entering the Seminary, I was often shocked by what I was taught. Many of the priest-professors (not all) denied that Jesus really worked miracles, claimed to be God, or even knew he was God. They taught” that most of what he is recorded as saying, he never really said, most of what he was recorded as doing he never really did, he did not rise bodily from the dead, and there is little we really knew about the “Jesus of history;” he barely existed at all! Many of us were also treated to a steady diet from certain faculty of things such as why women should be ordained and that the rosary and Eucharistic Adoration were vestiges of the “pre-Vatican II Church.”

I was poorly catechized, having come through the terrible sentries of beige Catholicism, but I knew something was deeply wrong here. To say that I was dismayed, alarmed, and angered would be an understatement. I surely did not come to seminary to have my faith snatched away or have my vocation questioned by faculty who didn’t even seem to believe in the Nicene Creed or the veracity of Scripture. The few of us who questioned such things were labeled as “rigid” and considered poor candidates for the priesthood. Many were run out of the seminary by poor evaluations from the faculty. Others learned to stay silent and take counsel with the faithful and orthodox faculty we could find, or to look for other sources of truth often published by what many faculty considered then, as “renegade” publishers such as Tan Books or the Wanderer newspaper.

A Book that Saved my Vocation and faith: It was at this time that someone alerted me to a book published by Ralph Martin in 1982 called A Crisis of Truth: The attack on Faith Morality and Mission in the Catholic Church (Servant Books, Ann Arbor Michigan). This was a book that I credit with saving my vocation and, frankly, my faith! Over the years I have repeatedly thanked Dr. Ralph Martin for his voice in those days of confusion, ambiguity and outright dissent. He concisely and clearly laid out the roots and branches of dissent and error:

  • The denial that there was one truth to which all were summoned.
  • The undermining of the authority and infallibility of the Word of God
  • The silencing of the Gospel.
  • The remaking of the biblical Jesus.
  • The denial that Jesus is the only way.
  • Secular influence and the emergence of a merely social gospel.
  • The dismissal and undermining of sexual morality
  • The minimizing of the Day of Judgment and the need for repentance
  • Pastoral passivity
  • And many other topics as well.

It was a masterful treatment and very credible as well. Ralph Martin was a leader in the Charismatic “wing” of the Church and could hardly be labeled as part of some reactionary and reflexively conservative movement. Like a wise steward he drew from his storehouse the best of the new and the best of the old. (cf Matt 13:52). The book was a guide to all that was wrong, stated the clear and defined teaching of the Church  and announced the way back through courage and action.

I joyfully heard the news last year that Ralph was going to publish an updated version of the book. Many of us have observed to our great dismay the resurgence of the confusion and open dissent that marked the 1970s through the 1990s. Dr. Martin notes this himself in the opening chapter of his revised, expanded and new book: A Church in Crisis: Pathways Forward:

…The doctrinal, moral and pastoral problems that have emerged during Francis’ pontificate are not unique to him or this time. In many ways they are a recurrence of very similar confusions that my original book back in 1982 identified. And going back even further the issues connected with the “modernist heresies” are once again with us. They are now back, sometimes in very similar appearance as they had many years ago, and sometimes in new forms but bearing with them the same underlying infidelities and rebellions.

In A Church in Crisis, Martin does not, like some, merely criticize the Pope. He praises what is good, true and beautiful in Pope Francis’ writings, statements and actions. But it is a sober reality that Pope Francis has been ambiguous on many occasions and seemingly signaled that old doctrinal and moral dissent can safely be reasserted. As Catholics, both clergy and laity, we have the right and duty to enter into a vigorous analysis of resurgent errors and to both clarify and denounce where necessary such errors. A Church in Crisis both describes the resurgent errors, sets the record straight about the true and proper Church teaching and thereby corrects erroneous notions confirms the true faith for believers of every rank. Dr. Martin does this with a great confidence in the inerrant truth of God’s word and the definitive teachings of the Church through the centuries. The book is well footnoted, scholarly but also very readable.

While the fundamental topics are similar to his 1982 book as listed above, they are freshly treated with their current manifestations described and critiqued. We are indeed a Church in crisis and too many of us are either complacent or complicit in the spread of error and confusion. Clergy are too silent but so are the laity in their homes and in their witness to the world.

Dr. Martin expands his treatment on universalism which has grown worse since the 1980s. Universalism is the error that states all or the vast majority of souls, will go to heaven; that Hell is a remote possibility. This conflicts with hundreds of verses of Scripture, and Jesus’ clear and consistent teaching that many are on the road to damnation, and “few” are on the road to salvation. This sober teaching by Jesus himself is rejected by many out of hand. Obviously, it damages our understanding of the need for on-going repentance and living a moral life, the need for sacraments, prayer and the Word of God. It turns religion into a hobby and simply promotes all to heaven whatever their beliefs, lifestyle, actions or character. Universalism makes evangelization largely unnecessary, summoning people to repentance is also unnecessary, even a form a hate. Universalism stabs urgency in the heart and makes preaching the gospel and calling others to repentance pointless and even cruel. It is clear that unless we get the doctrines of judgement and Hell right, we aren’t going to make much progress.

You need to read A Church in Crisis and get fifty of your closest friends to do the same. I am going to use the book for my Young Adult study group after Easter. Frankly most of them “get it” more than my generation and others even older. They have grown up in the wasteland created by the iconoclastic generation of my “baby-boomer” confreres.

Thanks be to God that Ralph Martin has republished and updated his book from the 1980s. I pray that many others, like I did on the awful 80s will now benefit in very dark times from these rays of truth and clarity. I do not exaggerate when I say Dr. Ralph Martin saved my vocation and faith back in the 1980s and I pray he will reach many others in this important reissue and update. It is an essential work to be read by all.

 

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On the Urgent Anger of Jesus. A Homily for the Third Sunday of Lent

In today’s Gospel we see an example of the anger of Jesus. In our Catholic and American experience we often see most anger as sinful. Further, many have remade Jesus into a friendly and harmless hippie. They screen out a large number of texts where Jesus, in the mode of the prophets, is urgent, demanding and even angry at the obtuseness, sloth and stubbornness so common to the human condition.  His is an urgency borne in love, and and anger meant to underscore the seriousness of of the choice before us, for against him and his Kingdom.

Jesus, of course, has sovereignty over his anger and expresses it to the perfect degree and always focused on the right and just object. This is not always the case with us. For most of us anger is an unruly passion and we do not always how and when to use it well.

Before looking at Jesus’ anger, lets look at our own experience and struggle with anger.

To begin with, some distinctions are in order.

  1. We ought first to distinguish between the internal experience or feeling of anger and the external manifestation of it.The internal experience of anger as a passionate response to some external stimulus is not sinful since we cannot usually and immediately control the arising of feelings or passions. Anger usually arises out of some sense of threat. It signals us that something is wrong, threatening or inappropriate as we understand or interpret the data. Sometimes our perceptions are incorrect but often they are not. Anger, in this sense, is not only sinless, but necessary as it alerts  us to the need to respond to something that is a threat or unjust and it gives us the energy to address it. It is a passion and an energy to set things right or to address a threatening situation.
  2. But it is possible that our anger can arise from less than holy reasons. Some of the things we fear, we should not fear. Some of our fears are rooted in pride, and an inordinate need for status and affirmation. Some of our fears come from misplaced priorities. For example we may be excessively concerned with money, property, popularity  or material things. And this concern triggers inordinate fears about things that should not matter so much. And this fear gives rise to feeling easily threatened at any loss or diminishment. This in turn triggers anger, since we sense that something is wrong or threatening. But we ought not be so concerned with such things since they are rooted in pride, vanity and materialism. In this case the anger may have a sinful dimension. rooted in the inordinate and sinful drives.
  3. Now external manifestations of anger can and do sometimes have a sinful dimension when they are beyond what is reasonable. If I am experiencing anger there may be little or no sin in that. However if I express that anger by hurling insults, or physically attacking someone I may well have sinned by a sinful expression of my anger. However, it remains true that we live in thin-skinned times and people often take personal offense when they should not. We will see in a moment that Jesus did not often hesitate to describe his opponents’  in rather vivid ways.
  4. Hence, of itself, anger is not a sin.The Scriptures say, Be angry but sin not (Ps 4:4) So anger is not the sin. However, the object of anger or the expression of anger may become sinful.
  5. When is the external manifestation of anger an appropriate response?  Most simply put, anger is appropriate when its object is appropriate and reasonable.

For example, it is appropriate to experience anger when we see or experience injustice. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. harnessed appropriate anger of Americans toward the injustice of racism. He elicited it,  and focused  its energy in productive ways. Notice that he was very careful to teach against violence and revenge. Anger did not to give the Civil Rights Protesters the right to hate. What Dr. King did was to elicit a just anger on the part of many Americans. This anger in turn gave them the motivation to act creatively and energetically to resist  injustice and effect change through non-violence. This sort of angry response was appropriate, reasonable and even holy. The tradition of non-violent resistance to injustice remains strong in those who protest abortion, and other sins, crimes and social injustices. It is the anger that motivates the desire to speak and the zeal to take action to rectify injustice.

Anger is also appropriate and even necessary in some forms of fraternal correction. To fail to manifest some level of anger may lead to the false conclusion that the offense in question is not really all that significant. For example if a child belts his brother in the mouth and knocks out a tooth a parent ought to manifest an appropriate amount of anger to make it very clear that this sort of behavior is intolerable. To gently correct a child in a smooth and dispassionate way with no inflection in the voice can lead to the impression that this really isn’t so bad. Proper anger has a way of bringing the point home and making a lasting impression. Again, note that the anger in question should be at a proper level, not excessive, and not too weak. This of course requires a good bit of self-mastery.

Meekness– And this leads us to an important virtue, beatitude and fruit of the Holy Spirit which helps us to master anger: Meekness. In modern English, meekness has lost its original vigor and tends to signify a person who is a bit of a pushover and easily taken advantage of. But,  in its original meaning, meekness describes the vigorous virtue wherein one gains authority over their anger. Aristotle defined meekness (πραΰτης) as the middle ground between being too angry, and not being angry enough. As we have noted, there is a place and a need for anger. The meek person has authority over their anger. They are able to summon its energy but control its extremes.  Hence the meek are far from weak. They are the string ones who have gained authority over their anger. St. John Chrysostom says in this regard: He who is not angry when he has cause to be, sins. For unreasonable patience is a hotbed of many vices. (Homily 11). St Thomas Aquinas says: Consequently, lack of the passion of anger is also a vice, [for it is] a lack of movement in the will directed to punishment by the judgment of reason (II, IIae 158.8).

What of Jesus? One the one hand Jesus seems to have taught very strongly against anger:

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’  But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. (Matt 5:21-22)

On the face of it it would seem that Jesus condemns anger without exception. However, if that is the case then Jesus broke his own rule for he exhibited a lot of anger in the Gospels. What Jesus DOES clearly condemn here is unrighteous and wrathful and hateful anger. Notice that he give two examples of the kind of anger he means. The first example is to use the term of contempt: Raca. This term is hard to translate so it is simply rendered in the Aramaic. Essentially what it means to do is to strip a person of any dignity and to regard them with utter contempt. The term fool; has a similar, though less egregious, purpose. Hence, it would seem that the Lord is not condemning all anger her but rather the anger of contempt and depersonalization. To absolutize Jesus’ teaching here to include any anger would seem unreasonable given what we have said above and it would also call into question Jesus’ own example which includes not a little anger.

Most people are familiar with Jesus’ anger in the cleansing of the temple. But there are other places as well where he manifest not a little anger:

Jesus said, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!”You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? (Matt 23:29-33)

Jesus said, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire!  He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?  He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God!” ( John 8:44-47)

Passages like these do not exhibit the “Mr Rogers” kind of Jesus common in the modern imagination. Jesus was no “Caspar Milquetoast.”  His vigorous anger is also on display in the video below.

What to make of Jesus’ angry displays?

  1. Not sinful – Clearly they are not sinful displays of anger since the scriptures assure us that Jesus never sinned (e.g. Heb 4:15).
  2. There may be an important cultural dimension to remember here. In the culture of the ancient Jews there seems to have been a wider acceptance of the expression of anger than in our own American setting. The cleansing of the Temple by Jesus was an expression more acceptable than our culture would usually permit. Turning over the tables etc. was a “prophetic action.” Prophets did things like this. In that culture it was more acceptable than perhaps in ours. But even we find a place for civil disobedience. We may not always like it, but we respect that it has a place in our culture.
  3. Yet Jesus clearly is angry. He is grieved at the hard heartedness of his opponents and his strong tone is an authoritative summons to repent. A lowered and lyrical voice might not convey the urgency of the situation. These are hardened men and there is a need for pointed and passionate denunciation. This is righteous anger.
  4. We ought to be careful before simply taking up Jesus angry tone for two reasons. First, he was able to see into their hearts and properly conclude as to the proper tactics necessary. We may not always be able to do this. Secondly, the wider Western culture in which many of us live may not be as prepared to accept such an angry tone. It may be a less effective tactic in our setting and  prudential judgment is a necessary precursor to using such tactics.

But in the end, anger is not, ipso facto, sinful or wrong. It is sometimes the proper and necessary response. We do well to be careful with our anger, for it is an unruly passion. We ought to see above all the fruit of the Spirit which is meekness and ask to Lord to give us authority over our anger and a prudence as to its effective use.

I want, in future posts to explore more of this Gospel that I cover in my “live” homily” (see video below) and will do that later this week.

 This video shows Jesus’ anger:

And here is a video recording of my Homily:

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The Conquering Power of Praise – A Meditation on a Text From Second Chronicles

072113There is a story of King Jehoshaphat and the victory of Israel against the Moabites, Ammonites and Meunites (2 Chronicles 20). It is a story that speaks of the power of praise to defeat a numberless army. Simply singing a hymn of praise can cast out demons, avert war, and send evil threats limping away.

Yes, praise! It is not always weapons of iron and steal and fiery bombs that wins the day. Often it is simple praise, hands lifted in prayer, voices raised in praise.

Never underestimate the power of the liturgy to change world history, to turn back threats and see the devil’s power crushed. Indeed, scripture says, Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger (Psalm 8:2).

I would like to take a more detailed look at this passage from Second Chronicles to see what praise and communal prayer can do. As a Church musician myself, and now a priest, I have often used this text to speak to Church Choirs of the power of praise. For, in this text we see that it is the choir, not the army that wins the day! Lets look at the text.

I. THE ANXIETY PORTRAYED – We begin with a description of a looming Crisis. The text says, After this the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat for battle.  Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea; and, behold, they are in Hazazontamar” (that is, Engedi). Then Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. (2 Chron 20:1-3)

Now all this may seem a bit remote to us moderns. Indeed it my sound more like recitation for an ancient atlas or recitations from a “Jewish telephone book.” Don’t let all the names and places distract you. You and I also face a triple threat from the world, the flesh and the devil; from sins, sorrows and sufferings or just that situation you’re going through!

Indeed, as a pastor I am keenly aware that many come into our parishes on Sunday fighting demons and enemies. Many are overwhelmed, discouraged  and afraid. They seek wisdom from God through his word and Sacraments.

And we who would pastor and lead parishes must seek above all to make our parishes, and the celebration of our liturgies, healing moments for God’s people, moments that give them hope and victory over afflictions and demons and difficulties. It is much like the disciples on the road to Emmaus who, encountering the Lord, had  their hearts set on fire and their path redirected toward the heavenly Jerusalem.

People come with burdens, and we must be a place of blessing, or instruction in the Lord and a place that reminds of victory to those who persevere. And thus it makes sense that we head to the next step where in the faithful are assembled to seek healing, blessing and victory.

II. THE ASSEMBLING OF THE PEOPLE –  The text says,  And Judah assembled to seek help from the LORD; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD. And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court, and said, “O LORD, God of our fathers, art thou not God in heaven? Dost thou not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? In thy hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee. Didst thou not, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and give it for ever to the descendants of Abraham thy friend? And they have dwelt in it, and have built thee in it a sanctuary for thy name, saying, ‘If evil comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house, and before thee, for thy name is in this house, and cry to thee in our affliction, and thou wilt hear and save.’ And now behold, the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom thou would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy– behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit. O our God, wilt thou not execute judgment upon them? For we are powerless against this great multitude that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon thee.”  Meanwhile all the men of Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children. (2 Chron 20:4-11)

Notice that the people all assemble: Men and women, young and old, children too. Here is sacred assembly and the power of communal prayer. Private prayer is both necessary and good. But there comes a time each week when all the faithful must assemble and join their collective prayers and praises. Here is a time of collective praise and, as we shall see of the sharing of wisdom and mutual support.

Isn’t this what we do each Sunday? We face demons and enemies and struggle with fear, just as did these people of old. But we, like them assemble and find strength. We tell the biblical and personal stories of how we’ve overcome and we draw strength from our story. Yes, there we are, clergy and people together with our God who instructs us in the battle reminds us of the victory, feeds us to strengthen us, and gives us a pledge of future glory in the Eucharist.

The Book of Hebrews says, And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Heb 10:24-25)

Note that in this ancient gathering Jehoshaphat and the people do four things. There is:

1. The PRAISE of POWER (OF GOD)-  For they say: O LORD, God of our fathers, art thou not God in heaven? Dost thou not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? In thy hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee. (vv. 4-6). And this is very much what we do in the Gloria, our collects, and in the Preface of the Eucharistic Prayer. In praising the power of God we acknowledge his capacity to save us and are stirred to hope that He, who can make a way out of no way, will save us.

2. The PROCLAMATION of PAST DEEDS – For they recall that God settled them in this land as blessed them day by day. And they recall God’s promise to answer their prayer. And we too, as we read God’s word every Sunday of affliction, but then of deliverance. We learn that weaping ay endure for a night, but Joy does come with the morning light! This proclamation and reminder of God’s steadfast help in the past, steels our confidence that, as Scripture says, But this I will call to mind; therefore I will hope: The LORD’s mercy is not exhausted, his compassion is not spent; They are renewed each morning—great is your faithfulness! The LORD is my portion, I tell myself therefore I will hope in him. The LORD is good to those who trust in him, to the one that seeks him; It is good to hope in silence for the LORD’s deliverance. -(Lamentations 3:21-26). Yes, we tell the story of how we’ve overcome and we’ll understand it better, by an by! In remembering the Lord’s mercy and deeds of the past we are encouraged that he did not bring us this far to leave us.

3. The PRESENTATION of the PROBLEM – For they say,  And now behold, the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir…are coming to drive us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit. (vv. 10 – 11) Yes, Lord we are afflicted on every side, be it these ancient enemies or the even more ancient enemies of the World the flesh and the devil. Yes, Lord we are in need, we are afflicted.

4. The PETITION of the POWERLESS – And thus they say standing before the Lord with hands raised: O our God, wilt thou not execute judgment upon them? For we are powerless against this great multitude that is coming against us.  (v. 11-12) And we too cry out: Help us, save us, have mercy on us, and keep us O Lord by thy grace. We afflicted and powerless! Save us O Lord, spare us! And in acknowledging our powerlessness, comes our true power for then we start to rely on God.

III. THE ANSWER PROCLAIMED – And the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. And he said, “Hearken, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the LORD to you, ‘Fear not, and be not dismayed at this great multitude; for the battle is not yours but God’s.  Tomorrow go down against them; behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz; you will find them at the end of the valley, east of the wilderness of Jeruel. You will not need to fight in this battle; take your position, stand still, and see the victory of the LORD on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Fear not, and be not dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, and the LORD will be with you.”  Then Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the LORD, worshiping the LORD.  And the Levites, of the Kohathites and the Korahites, stood up to praise the LORD, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice. 2 Chron 20:14-14)

And thus in this sacred assembly comes an answer from God. And thus we note:

1. RESPONSE – For God speaks an answer through the Prophet Jahaziel, just as the prophetic voice of His Church continues to speak for him today. And notice too its in the context of the assembled community that the answer comes.

2. REASSURANCE – And Jahaziel says, Fear not, and be not dismayed at this great multitude; for the battle is not yours but God’s….‘ Fear not, and be not dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, and the LORD will be with you.”  Yes, we do well to remember that the battle is ultimately the Lord’s. It is he who will win, it does not all depend on us alone. And we do well to remember this today when we are beset by many difficulties and discouraging cultural trends. The Lord has already won.  Nations may rise and fall, empires come and go, wicked philosophies have their time, and this has all happened in the age of the Church, but the Church and the Lord and the Gospel are still here and we have buried every one and everything that announced our death. Where is Caesar? Where is Napoleon, where is the USSR? God has already won, only the news has not yet dawned on some who choose the losing side.

3. REQUIREMENT – Tomorrow go down against them; behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz; you will find them at the end of the valley, east of the wilderness of Jeruel. You will not need to fight in this battle; take your position, stand still, and see the victory of the LORD on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem. But the Lord who made us without us, with not save us without us. He DOES have something for each of us to do. Our task is to discover our role and take our position on the field!  Perhaps it is being a priest, catechist, teacher or parent. Perhaps it is the witness to and renewal of the temporal order. Perhaps it is raising children in Godly fear or summoning others to holiness. But find your place on the battlefield and be still and stable there, doing what the Lord says, knowing that he is with us and that the battle is His and that he does the real fighting.

In effect we have here a quick synopsis of what a good homily should be. A homily should give, using God’s Word and the teachings of the Church, a response and reassurance regarding the issues and afflictions faced by God’s people. And, it should remind us of our role in finding our place on the battlefield, remaining stably there and doing what the Lord asks, but to do so in supreme confidence.

IV. THE AWESOME POWER OF PRAISE –  And finally comes the remarkable victory, a victory not won by military power, but by mighty praise. It is the praise of God that defeats his enemies round about. The text says: And they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the LORD your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will succeed.” And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the LORD and praise him in holy array, as they went before the army, and say, “Give thanks to the LORD, for his steadfast love endures for ever.” And when they began to sing and praise, the LORD set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed. For the men of Ammon and Moab rose against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, destroying them utterly, and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they all helped to destroy one another. When Judah came to the watchtower of the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; and behold, they were dead bodies lying on the ground; none had escaped. When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take the spoil from them, they found cattle in great numbers, goods, clothing, and precious things, which they took for themselves until they could carry no more. They were three days in taking the spoil, it was so much. On the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Beracah, for there they blessed the LORD; therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Beracah to this day. (2 Chronicles 20:20-26)

Note carefully that the Choir, dressed in holy array went in front of the Army! It is praise that will prevail this day! And as they go in front they sing: Give thanks to the LORD, for his steadfast love endures for ever! And this praise throws the enemy into confusion! The threefold opposing armies turn on each other. No one escaped, they were all killed by one another.

Pay attention, there is power in praise. Nothing discourages the evil one more than the praise. Nothing confutes and confuses the world, the flesh and devil more than the joyful shout of a Christian. There is a glory and a power to joy and confident praise that cannot be denied.

I myself am a witness to the transformative power of God’s praise and its capacity to put the world, the flesh and devil to flight. I have spent most of my priesthood in African American Parishes where jubilant praise is a constant practice. Songs of hope, and joy and blessings abound and even our many songs that summon us to repentance are quite often humorous and hopeful, warning of judgment, but promising mercy to the steadfast. And this praise has changed my life. It has put demons to flight, subdued fleshly anxiety, sins, and thinking, and put the world on trial. I am more confident, more courageous, and more equipped to speak the truth in love.

Praise works, my life has had to many victories to say anything else. When the praises go up, the blessings come down and the victory is won. Yes, I am a witness. How about you?

Lord,  save us from sour-faced saints! God grant us joyful, confident and praise-filled Catholics all throughout this world. For in our praise, and joyful confidence in the truth of God’s Word and teaching comes a witness that is hard to refute. Yes Lord, even from the mouth of babes you have found praise to foil your enemies! (Ps 8:2). Yes Lord, teach us to praise you! Teach us the power of our song and of our joyful testimony.

Happy the people that know the joyful shout; that walk, O LORD, in the light of Thy face. (Psalm 89:16)

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“Father Forgive them, They Know Not What They Do.” But Don’t We Really Know What We Are Doing?

One of the most powerful things Jesus said from the Cross was, “Father forgive them, they know not what they are doing.” It is beautiful in its graciousness and loving in its leniency.

But it is also enigmatic. Did they not in fact, know exactly what they were doing? They had been plotting for several years to set up Jesus and trap him. They infiltrated his ranks and found a betrayer. They held a mock trial full of false and contradictory testimony and references to his teaching that were completely out of context (Mk 14:53). Even Pilate marveled at their obsession and rush to execute a seemingly harmless and unpretentious Galilean who spoke of a kingdom, “not of this world.”  They jeered at him from beneath the Cross and walked away self-righteously to prepare the Sabbath which was a solemn one that year (Jn 19:31). Yes, it seems they knew exactly what they were doing.

And further, there is no evidence that they sought forgiveness. They were proud of what they had done and would continue to persecute the early Christians with the same bloody resolve.

“Father forgive them, they know not what they do.” An extravagant mercy to be sure but also a puzzling one that seems to jettison the accountability of which Jesus often spoke; that we would be accountable even for every idle word (Mat 12:36).

St Aelred provides a loving, even daring reading of the Lord’s forgiveness which we read in the Breviary last Friday:

It was not enough to pray for them: he wanted also to make excuses for them. Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. They are great sinners, yes, but they have little judgment; therefore, Father, forgive them. They are nailing me to the cross, but they do not know who it is that they are nailing to the cross: if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory; therefore, Father, forgive them. They think it is a lawbreaker, an impostor claiming to be God, a seducer of the people. I have hidden my face from them, and they do not recognize my glory; therefore, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. (From the Mirror of Love by Saint Aelred, abbot; Lib 3, 5: PL 195, 382).

This passage does two things. First it is a beautiful interpretation of the Lord’s merciful prayer. Second, it helps contextualize the Lord’s extension of mercy and not over-apply its meaning to every sinner everywhere. They are to be spared the sin of deicide (the killing of God), but they are not being given a blank check for all their sins. Such a stance would rob the human person of his freedom and dignity, in effect assuming that people are just too stupid to go to hell or be responsible for what they do. It would also force a kind of general absolution on people even when they did not seek or want it. Most of us have some occasions of invincible ignorance (an ignorance of the facts that is hard to overcome), but most of us also know exactly what we are doing in most cases. Of such things we will be accountable if we do not first seek the Lord’s mercy. Many sins we also commit in weakness not in malice. But weakness is not powerlessness. And hence, here too, we must seek mercy and strive to grow in strength.

God’s mercy is precious. But repentance is the key that unlocks its floodgates. May Lent continue to be a time that we acknowledge our need for God’s mercy and seek it constantly.

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From Trials to Transfiguration – A Homily for the Second Sunday of Lent

What is it that gives hope, peace, and serene joy to the Christian life? Briefly, it is the vision of glory, a glimpse into the Promised Land of Heaven, which the Lord can and does give to His people. Today’s Gospel shows forth a kind of process through which the Lord lays the foundations of hope, peace, and joy.

The Paradoxical Prelude – The text says, Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. Note that in order to get them to a place where they can see glory, the Lord must first lead them “up a high mountain.”

It’s easy to pass over this fact: they had to climb that mountain. Anyone who has been to the site of Tabor can appreciate just how difficult a climb it is, almost 2000 feet and steep as well. It takes the better part of a day and the climb might well have been more dangerous back then. Once at the top, one feels as if one is looking from an airplane window out on the Jezreel Valley (a.k.a. Megiddo or Armageddon). So Tabor is a symbol of the cross and of struggle. It was a difficult, exhausting climb for Peter, James, and John and it tested their strength.

I have it on the best of authority that as they climbed they were singing gospel songs like these: “I’m comin’ up on the rough side of the mountain, and I’m doin’ my best to carry on!”; “My soul looks back and wonders how I got over!”; “We are climbing Jacob’s ladder, every round goes higher, higher.”

This climb should remind us of our life here on this earth. We’ve often had to climb, to endure; we’ve had our strength tested. Perhaps it was the climb of earning a college degree, or raising children, or building a career. What do you have that you really value that did not come at the price of a climb, of effort, of struggle? Most of us know that although the climb is difficult, there is glory at the top. We have to endure, to push through. Life’s difficulties are often the prelude to success and greater strength.

Herein lies the paradox: peace, joy, and hope are often the products of struggles, climbs, and difficulties. These things are often the prelude to seeing and experiencing glory. Scripture says,

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us—they help us learn to be patient. And patience develops strength of character in us and helps us trust God more each time we use it until finally our hope and faith are strong and steady (Romans 5:3-4).

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These trials are only to test your faith, to see whether or not it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests gold and purifies it—and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold; so if your faith remains strong after being tried in the test tube of fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day of his return (1 Peter 1:6).

Yes, there is a paradoxical prelude to glory and it can only come through God’s wisdom—human beings just don’t think this way. An old hymn says,

“Trials dark on every hand. And we cannot understand, all the ways that God will lead us to that blessed promised land. But he guides us with his eye and we follow till we die and we’ll understand it better by and by.”

The Practice Portrayed – The text lays out various aspects of how Peter, James, and John come to experience a joyful peace in the presence of the Lord’s glory. The text says, And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” There are three things Peter, James, and John do that enable them to come to this joyful peace:

Note how they Savor the moment. Peter wants to stay on the mountaintop, to pitch tents and stay put. Some preachers give him a hard time for this, but I see it as a good thing, even if a bit excessive. The point is to savor glory, to store good memories and experiences deep in our soul, to cultivate a deep gratitude for the wonderful things the Lord has done for us, to savor deeply our experiences of glory.

The Prescription Proclaimed – The text then says, Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; from the cloud came a voice, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone but Jesus alone with them.

The prescription couldn’t be simpler and yet how poorly we often follow it. Listen to Jesus! In other words, carefully ponder every word of His teaching and begin to base your life on what He says.

How much pain, anxiety, and strife come into this world and our lives simply because we do not listen to the Lord and obey His teachings! Our stubbornness, our lack of forgiveness, our unchastity, our greed, our lack of concern for the poor, our idolatry, our lack of spirituality, and the fact that we are often just plain mean, bring enormous suffering to us and to others.

If we would but give our life to the Lord and ask Him to conform us to His word, so much suffering would vanish. We would have so much more peace and would experience greater joy and hope.

Listen to Jesus and by His grace conform your life to what you hear Him say. There is no greater source for joy, peace, and hope.

The Persevering Purpose – The text says, As they were coming down from the mountain, he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone, except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

There is fairly universal agreement that the purpose of this mountaintop experience of glory was to prepare the apostles for the difficult days ahead. Thus, while Jesus tells them to keep it to themselves, He wanted them to keep it, to remember it. Having seen and savored glory, having “seen what the end shall be,” having been bathed in beams of Heaven, they need to keep the memory alive and remember who Jesus is as the Passion begins. If they do this, they will be able to endure the folly and suffering of the cross.

Did they successfully persevere in keeping the memory alive? Only John made it to the foot of the cross, but one out of three isn’t so bad. Having experienced peace and joy, and having seen the Lord’s glory, John made it to the cross, enduring its shame and remembering the glory he had seen.

What about you? Have you seen the glory of the Lord? Have you experienced His love and glory deeply enough that, when difficulties come, you don’t allow them to overwhelm you? Have you come to experience and possess a peace and joy that the world did not give and hence cannot take away? Have you allowed the Lord to lay a foundation of hope in your life? Have you let Him take you up the mountain and show you glory? Have you seen the promised land and have you seen what the end shall be? This is what this Gospel describes and promises.

There is an old hymn by Charles Tindley that says,

“Beams of Heaven, as I go, / Through this wilderness below / Guide my feet in peaceful ways / Turn my midnights into days / When in the darkness I would grope / Faith always sees a star of hope / And soon from all life’s grief and danger / I shall be free someday.”

Notice what it is that gets us through: beams of Heaven!

Yes, it was those same beams of Heaven that Peter, James, and John saw on the mountaintop. Those beams, having been experienced and remembered, shine on every darkness and show the way. Those beams of Heaven give us hope and turn our midnight into day. Let the Lord show you His glory. Savor every moment and never forget what the Lord has done for you. The light of His Glory will light every way.

The hymn goes on to say,

“Burdens now may crush me down / Disappointments all around / Troubles speak in mournful sigh / Sorrow through a tear stained eye / There is a world where pleasure reigns / No mourning soul shall roam its plains / And to that land of peace and glory / I want to go some day.”

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“Equality Act” Imposes Serious Threats To Religious Liberty and Other First Amendment Rights. Please Take Action Now.

There is legislation in Congress which may be voted on as early as this week which should alarm you if you care at all about women, what is true, what is scientific and what pertains to free speech and religious liberty. It is the known as the  Equality Act . But the bill is not aimed at equality, rather, its effects will be to erode current federal law protecting religious freedom and to compel employers, schools, charities, etc. to violate their mission and identity and adopt the LGBT worldview.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has this to say of the legislation:

The Equality Act, which is being voted on in the U.S. House of Representatives soon, in many ways does the opposite and needs to be opposed. Instead of respecting differences in beliefs about marriage and sexuality, the Equality Act would discriminate against people of faith. The Equality Act would: punish faith-based organizations, such as charities and schools who serve everyone in their communities…[It would] force girls and women to compete against boys and men for limited opportunities in sports, and to share locker rooms and shower spaces with biological males who identify as women; risk mandating taxpayers to fund abortions; force people in everyday life, and especially health care workers, to support gender transition; and expand what the government considers a “public” place, forcing even some parish halls to host functions that conflict with Catholic beliefs. [1]

If all this isn’t bad enough, last year the Bishops gave a more detailed critique of the legislation listing some of the following issues:

The Equality Act would impose sweeping regulations to the detriment of society as a whole. The Act’s definitions alone would remove women and girls from protected legal existence…. We treasure the First Amendment freedoms of speech, association, conscience, and religious exercise. The Equality Act puts these at risk by requiring uniform assent to new beliefs about human identity that are contrary to those held by many – believers of diverse faiths and non-believers alike.”

Furthermore, the Act also fails to recognize the difference between the person – who has dignity and is entitled to recognition of it – and the actions of a person, which have ethical and social ramifications. Conflating the two will introduce a plethora of further legal complications.

 In brief, the Equality Act will:

Regulate thought, belief, and speech. We treasure the First Amendment freedoms of speech, association, conscience, and religious exercise. The Equality Act puts these at risk by requiring uniform assent to new beliefs about human identity that are contrary to those held by many – believers of diverse faiths and non-believers alike.

 Explicitly retract religious freedom. By exempting itself from the bipartisan Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 – an unprecedented move – the Equality Act represents an explicit departure from one of the founding principles of the United States, the freedom of religion.

 Hinder quality health care. Those experiencing gender dysphoria or incongruence must be treated with care and compassion and should receive from health care professionals the same quality of services and moral protection from harm that is due to everyone. The Equality Act, however, would force many health care professionals to perform certain treatments and procedures associated with “gender transition” against their best medical or ethical judgment with respect to a patient. As the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under the Obama Administration noted in 2016,2 “gender affirmation” has not been associated with greater long-term happiness. Tragically, related surgeries may exacerbate the long-term rate of suicide among those identifying as “transgender.” 3 As Pope Francis has said, “biological sex and the socio-cultural role of sex (gender) can be distinguished but not separated.” Insisting on doing so could deter some from practicing medicine in relevant fields, and add to the strain on the available health care workforce.

 Endanger privacy. The Equality Act contains no firm criteria for “gender identity,” which creates a path for potential emotional or physical harm against individuals, particularly in highly personal sex-segregated spaces such as restrooms and locker rooms. This risk arises not only from those who experience gender incongruence, but from others who would take malicious advantage of open-door policies in these private spaces.

Threaten charitable services. The Equality Act would force a multitude of charitable services to either violate their principles or shut down. With the lack of gender criteria, shelters would be required to house vulnerable, sometimes traumatized, women with biological men. In addition, foster care and adoption agencies would be expected to place children with same-sex partners, regardless of some birth mothers’ wishes and children’s best interests. The resulting closures of such charitable services would be unconscionable – especially when the opioid crisis is leaving more and more children in need of foster care.

 Exclude people from various career paths and livelihoods. Despite the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission (2018) that the state must not be hostile to religion, the Equality Act would set up for destructive litigation nationwide, entrepreneurs of faith, who serve all people but cannot express messages with which they disagree. [2]

Every now and then I hear from readers and others who wonder why the bishops don’t weigh in more on critical moral issues of our day. Well, here is an example of where they do. They should be encouraged and deserve our support.

Our nation also needs our voice and reason. Somewhere as a nation we have gotten very lost in many notions, including the lie that a boy can be a girl, or a girl can be a boy; a man can become a woman or a woman become a man. This is simply not true and a nation that cannot stand up and say male is not female is very lost and in need of prayer, fasting and action.

You may recall the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, written in 1948. In a crucial scene  in Room 101, the interrogator O’Brien tells the “thought criminal” Smith that control over physical reality is unimportant to the Party, provided the citizens of Oceania subordinate their real-world perceptions to the political will of the Party. Hence, 2 + 2 = 5. This is self-evidently false but you will either agree or suffer the consequences.

Increasingly in our times of “cancel culture” the exclusions and legal impositions by oligarchs, and government officials edges ever closer to declaring 2 + 2 = 5. Though many today say “follow the science” this is only when that is self-serving for them. If we follow the science then it is clear that abortion stops a beating human heart and that a man cannot be a woman simply by saying so or getting surgeries.

We are at a critical point in our culture. Either we are going to stand up and insist on reality or have an alternate “reality” imposed on us. Either we are going to fight for our religious liberty and freedom of speech or it will be taken from us. This is already well underway.

Lets work with our bishops as well as other allies in battling this nefarious “Equality Act.” There is little equality about it. Some are being legally raised, but many others are going to be legally crushed. Every person has a right to dignity. But not every person has a right to behave in ways that deny reality and cause terrible effects in the rest of culture. What we have here is an attempt to utterly redefine human nature. The social consequences of this are awful and government imposition of such things will only make things far worse and likely bring social unrest.

Consider writing your elected officials. The USCCB has a site to help you do that here: ACTION CENTER

Pray and fast for our Country. God bless the USA!

See also –

 

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Wood and Water Work Wonders! A Homily for the First Sunday of Lent

On the first Sunday of Lent the readings have a baptismal theme. This makes sense, for it is common that on this day the catechumens report to the Bishop for the Rite of Election, who officially recognizes them as the elect of God in these final weeks before their baptism.

In today’s readings there are actually many themes; they seem to form the spokes of a wagon wheel, with baptism being the central hub from which they emanate. Arching over it all is the image of the rainbow in the sky, the great sign of God’s love and mercy upon us all. Even during Lent, as we take heed of our sins, we can never forget that though we have been unrighteous, unholy, unkind, undisciplined, and at times unreachable, we have never been unloved. Yes, God put a rainbow in the sky.

Let’s look at the baptismal theme of these readings from two perspectives:

The PORTRAIT of Baptism – Both the first and second readings today make mention of Noah and the ark in which he and his family were delivered from the flood. The second reading says, God patiently waited in the days of Noah during the building of the ark, in which a few persons, eight in all, were saved through water. This prefigured baptism, which saves you now (1 Peter 3:19-20).

While we quickly associate water with baptism, the image is really a double one: wood and water. If it were not for the wood of the ark, the waters would have overwhelmed them. So, too for us: the waters of our baptism are rendered effective by Jesus on the wood of the cross.

Indeed, by God’s plan we might be so bold as to say, “Wood and water work wonders!” There are numerous places in the Scriptures where wood and water—not just water alone—manifest God’s saving love. Here are five of them:

  1. Cleansing Flood – We begin with today’s image, one of the most terrifying stories of the ancient world: the great flood. The world had grown so wicked and sin had so multiplied that God concluded He had to literally wash it clean. And you thought it was bad in the 21st century! God went to a man named Noah, telling him that He was going to trouble the waters and that Noah should get ready. Build an ark of gopher wood, Noah! This was no small project. The ark was to be the length of one-and-one-half football fields (150 yards), 75 feet wide, and 45 feet tall. Then Noah was to gather the animals: 2 pairs of unclean animals, 7 pairs of clean animals. You have to really trust God to put in all that work! Finally, God troubled the waters; the flood waters put an end to wickedness and made a new beginning of goodness. From troubled waters came a blessing, but first Noah had to wade in. Through water and the wood of the ark, God worked wonders (cf Gen 6-9).
  2. Trouble at the Red Sea – Many centuries later, Pharaoh had relented and the people were leaving Egypt after 400 years of slavery. Then fickle Pharaoh changed his mind and pursued them. With the Red Sea before them and Pharaoh behind them the people were struck with fear, but God would win through for them. How? By troubling the waters. God told Moses to take up the wooden staff and to trouble the waters with these words: And you lift up your staff and with hand outstretched over the sea, split the sea in two … So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided (Ex 14:16, 21). You and I know the end of the story but the people on that day did not. With water like two walls on either side them, they had to go forth; they had to wade in the waters. They had to trust God that the walls of water would hold. God brought them through and they were delivered out of slavery and into freedom. Are you noticing a pattern? With God, wood and water work wonders. The wooden staff and the troubled waters brought forth freedom.
  3. Trouble in the Desert – It is a fine thing to be free but thirst has a way of making itself known. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore, it was named Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” And he cried to the LORD; and the LORD showed him a tree, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet (Ex 15:23). Once again, with God, wood and water work wonders. The wood of the tree and the troubled waters of that spring brought the blessing of survival.
  4. More Trouble in the Desert – As they journeyed further, there was more thirst. God said to Moses, Go over in front of the people holding in your hand as you go the staff with which you struck the sea, … Strike the rock and the water will flow from it for the people to drink (Ex 17:5-6). From troubled waters came forth blessing. With God, wood and water work wonders. The wood of the staff troubled those waters and they came forth with the blessing that preserved life in the desert.
  5. At the River Jordan– After forty years of wandering in the desert, the Israelites were finally ready to enter the promised land, but the Jordan was in flood stage, impossible to cross. Once again God had a plan; He was going to trouble those waters. God instructed Joshua to have the priests place the ark on their shoulders and wade into the water. Now the ark was a box made of acacia wood and covered in gold. In it were the tables of the Law, the staff of Aaron, and a ciborium of the manna. They knew that the very presence of God was carried in that ancient wooden box, just as it is in our tabernacles today. The text says, And when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap far off people passed over opposite Jericho (Joshua 3:15) So again, with God, wood and water work wonders! The wooden box of the ark troubled the waters and they parted, bringing the blessing of the promised land.

These Old Testament prefigurements bring us to the wood of the true cross. On that wooden cross the waters of our baptism come forth from the side of Christ. With Jesus our Lord and God, wood and water work the wonder of eternal salvation. We’re not being freed from an army, or from thirst, or from a flood; we’re being freed from sin and offered eternal salvation. The waters of our baptism are given the power to save by our Lord Jesus through what He did on the wood of the cross. You might as well say it, “With God, wood and water work wonders!”

The POWER of Baptism – Here we encounter more of the spokes of the wagon wheel radiating out from the hub, which is baptism. These spokes come largely from the second reading (1 Peter 3:17-22). The spokes speak of the power and the gifts that radiate from baptism. Let’s look at them.

Salvation – The text says, baptism … saves you now. The Greek word translated here as “saves” is σώζει (sozei); it means to be delivered from present danger. Yes, we have been snatched from the raging flood waters of this sin-soaked world and from Satan, who seeks to devour us.

If the Lord had not been on our side when men attacked us, when their anger flared against us, they would have swallowed us alive; the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away. Praise be to the Lord, who has not let us be torn by their teeth. We have escaped like a bird out of the fowler’s snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped (Psalm 124).

St. Paul says this of Jesus: He rescued us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father (Gal 1:4).

An old gospel hymn has these lyrics: “I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore. Very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more. But the master of the sea heard my despairing cry, and from the waters lifted me, now safe am I. Love lifted me! When nothing else could help, love lifted me!”

Yes, through baptism and the faith it confers on us, we have been saved by the outstretched arm of our God. If we hold to God’s unchanging hand, Heaven will be ours.

Sonship – The text says, Christ suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God. Yes, Jesus has opened the way to the Father. He has reconciled us to God the Father by His precious blood.

In baptism we become the children of God. Isaiah says, For we like sheep had gone astray, every one to his own way (Is 53:6).

We were angry and fearful of God, unable to endure His presence and His love, but Jesus the Good Shepherd has gathered us and restored us to grace.

One of the great gifts baptism gives us is the grace to experience a tender affection for God the Father and experience Him as Abba (cf Gal 4:6, Rom 8). As we grow in the grace of our baptism, so does our tender love and affection for the Father.

Through baptism and the indwelling Holy Spirit, Jesus causes us to experience increasing trust in the Father and to obey Him out of deep love rather than servile fear.

Serenity – The text says baptism….is not a removal of dirt from the body but an appeal to God for a clear conscience. While baptism touches the body, its current goal is the soul, the inner man or woman. In effect, this text speaks to us of the new mind and heart that Jesus confers on us through baptism.

In today’s Gospel Jesus refers to this new mind when he says “Repent!” The Greek word translated as “repent” is μετανοεῖτε (metanoeite), which means more literally “to come to a change of mind.”

Yes, the Lord offers us a new mind and heart, a whole new way of thinking—new priorities, new visions, new understandings, and new goals.

So much of the battle we face involves our mind. “Mind” here does not refer to the brain but to that deepest inner part of us where we “live,” where we deliberate and are alone with our self and our God. Through baptism the Lord begins a process that renews this inner self, day by day.

As our mind gets clearer and our heart grows purer, our whole life is gradually transformed. This leads to inner peace, to a serene conscience, confident and loving before God.

Spirit – The text says of Jesus, Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the Spirit. As God, Jesus did not need or acquire the Holy Spirit; He was always one with the Holy Spirit. As man, though, He does acquire the Holy Spirit for us.

Who is the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is the very life of God, the love of God, the joy of God, the holiness of God! To receive the Holy Spirit is to come to a totally new and transformed life.

When Jesus rose it was not merely that His corpse was resuscitated. It was truly His body that rose, but He took up a wholly transformed human life and offers this to us.

In baptism we die with Him and rise to this new life. If we are faithful to our baptismal commitments, we become ever more fully alive; sins are put to death and innumerable graces come forth. Yes, new life, Life in the Spirit, comes to those who are baptized and remain faithful to their baptismal life.

Long before the rainbow was co-opted by groups within our culture for an unbiblical agenda, it was a beautiful image of God’s covenantal love for us.

Do you know what a rainbow is? It is a combination of fire and water. Yes, there it is: the water of our baptism and the fire of God’s loving Spirit shining through that very water, form the rainbow in the sky. It is the sign of God’s fiery love and the water of our salvation.

This song says, “When it looked like the sun wasn’t gonna shine no more, God put a rainbow in the sky.”

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On The Battle Theme of Lent

A brief observation of the first two days in Lent reveals militaristic, even violent imagery in the battle against sin and the unruly passions of the flesh. The Collect (opening prayer) of Ash Wednesday provides an image of troops mustering for battle:

Grant, O Lord, that we may begin with holy fasting this campaign of Christian service, so that, as we take up battle against spiritual evils, we may be armed with weapons of self-restraint.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

“Battle,” “weapons,” and “armed” all clearly have military connotations, but so does the phrase “campaign of Christian service” if we look at the Latin text: praesidia miltiae Christianae. The service or action (praesidia) is one of Christian battle or militancy (militiae). This refers to the Church Militant—the Church here on earth—waging war against sin and the kingdom of darkness.

Thus the opening prayer on Ash Wednesday announced and summoned us to a battle that is engaged by the Church with special intensity during Lent.

The Gospel for Thursday after Ash Wednesday also has a battle theme. Jesus says,

If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it (Luke 9:23-25).

The battle theme is particularly apparent if one looks at the Greek text. The word translated as “lose” in English does not capture the vigor of the Greek word ἀπόλλυμι (apollumi). Apollumi comes from the root apó, meaning away from, with the intensifier ollymi, “to destroy.” Thus apollumi means to fully destroy, cutting off entirely. It implies permanent or absolute destruction.

So when Jesus says we must “lose” our life, it is really far stronger than the English translation captures. Losing our life involves a kind of violent overthrow of our worldly notions and the deep drives of sin. We must lose. That is, we must see utterly destroyed and cut off all things worldly, fleshly, and of the devil. This is war and it is going to involve more than a mumbled, half-hearted prayer on our part. Scripture says, In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood (Heb 12:4).

So behold the militaristic imagery as Lent begins. To arms!

The idea of such a battle might overwhelm us if we thought it must all be done in one day. Jesus says that we should take up our cross daily. Our daily cross is vital to our success. It’s not our weekly cross, or our monthly cross, or our yearly cross. We ought to do each day what we should do. If we put off or postpone the daily cross, the problems pile up. A monthly cross can seem overwhelming, and a yearly cross might seem impossible. Everyday discipline is crucial. Soon enough, the daily discipline becomes virtue; it becomes a good habit that one accomplishes fairly easily. To take up our cross daily is to endure short-term pain for long-term gain.

The battle is engaged! Fight it daily. Fight it with the Lord. Understand that it is battle, but in Jesus (and only in Jesus) the victory is won. Stay on the winning side and fight daily to the end.