tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-162789992024-03-10T21:21:41.864-06:00Is My Phylactery Showing?<center>Faithful Catholic or modern-day pharisee? Sometimes I might be a bit of both.</center>Deacon Bill Burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11484509700642430451noreply@blogger.comBlogger1019125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16278999.post-45800434035225819492024-03-10T13:48:00.005-06:002024-03-10T19:38:08.353-06:00Light and Truth—Fourth Sunday of Lent (Cycle A)<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBbGa2bwBKzPo28ij9OjbaO4MuCtQwv0wlYs85GYMpXRo83zEhH8pnONkV37MmIdBVks4nTbZ8x0m0pB_qGjQgLudW2mXk5z-q6Kk_FNeBWfIFzdpZew3ASmAZFUnQzSEdDR44sxtXNKoyEtB3k4Qh7tUqKr3vZ-vOac2fAWn1ovQi1NR6Nffm/s1000/La_curacion_del_ciego_El_Greco_Dresde.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="786" data-original-width="1000" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBbGa2bwBKzPo28ij9OjbaO4MuCtQwv0wlYs85GYMpXRo83zEhH8pnONkV37MmIdBVks4nTbZ8x0m0pB_qGjQgLudW2mXk5z-q6Kk_FNeBWfIFzdpZew3ASmAZFUnQzSEdDR44sxtXNKoyEtB3k4Qh7tUqKr3vZ-vOac2fAWn1ovQi1NR6Nffm/s320/La_curacion_del_ciego_El_Greco_Dresde.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div><p></p><h1><o:p></o:p></h1>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">1 Sam. 16:1b, 6–7, 10–13a; Eph. 5:8–14; John 9:1–41<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">I have two themes I want to discuss regarding
today’s readings: light and truth. And these are related, especially regarding the
readings we have today during this second scrutiny on the fourth Sunday of
Lent. We need light to see the world around us and objective physical reality,
at least those who have the gift of sight, in which case “light” becomes a different
reality. I’ll say more on that later. And we use light figuratively to talk about
objective truth, whether physical or spiritual. This is how St. Paul uses the
image in his epistle to the Ephesians, “For you were once darkness, but now you
are light in the Lord. Live as children of light, for light produces every kind
of goodness and righteousness and truth.” The contrast here is that without
Christ, we cannot see things as they are; we cannot see the truth.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Paul doesn’t stop there. He
admonishes the Ephesians, “Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness;
rather expose them, for it is shameful even to mention the things done by them
in secret; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything
that becomes visible is light.” Note that Paul in this reading is telling us
two things. First, light reveals truth. Light allows us to perceive reality. Second,
the absence of light allows us to hide from reality, or to obscure the truth. In
moral theology, we talk about an effect of the fall of our first parents, Adam
and Eve, as being a darkening of our intellect. The technical term is <i>concupiscence</i>,
and that term also encapsulates a weakening of our will when it comes to temptations
of the flesh and worldly things. Paul is admonishing the Ephesians to seek the
light to expose all that is shameful for the sake of obliterating it in our
lives. And this isn’t a foreign notion for us. We even have a word for this:
enlightenment. When we “see the light,” we become enlightened. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Sadly, we have an entire era of human
history called the Enlightenment that in some ways was anything but. While it
continued some of the progress made during the Renaissance in the arts and
sciences (much of which was championed and led by the Catholic Church), that
era also included much that cut itself off from the stream of knowledge that
fed it. In a zeal for empirical objectivity (a discipline introduced by a Franciscan
friar by the name of Roger Bacon), many so-called empiricists threw off the
shackles of Catholic dogma and instead opted for the shackles of an objective
realism that denied any kind of transcendent reality, anything beyond material
reality. While the scientists in the Church have practiced Friar Bacon’s
empirical method from his time on, many empiricists practiced this supposedly “enlightened”
approach, which shut off the light of the transcendent on material reality. In
some theological circles, the Enlightenment is instead called the
en-Darkenment.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">And you can witness the aftermath of
the en-Darkenment in the actions of secularist and atheistic government regimes
from the time of Napoleon to our day: the introduction of medical practices in direct
conflict with moral and natural law, and incidentally in violation of the Hippocratic
oath, and other matters that dehumanize individuals and reduce human beings to objects
on which to experiment and which to control and manipulate. The supposed Enlightenment
has in many ways brought darkness instead. There’s a popular Catholic writer
and apologist who likes to put it this way: sin makes you stupid. When I look
back on the sinful moments of my life, I can hear that, sagely nod my head,
stroke my very gray beard, and say… “Yep.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Sin makes us stupid. It’s so obvious
that we shouldn’t have to say it. When we are in the midst of sin, we can’t see
how it clouds our judgment, how it blinds us, how it darkens our moral vision.
Once we snuff the light of grace, our path is darkened, and we have to grope to
find our way back. And of course, when we grope in the darkness, we’re going to
bark our shins, stub our toes, and smack our foreheads on that overhang we
always have to duck.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Without the light of grace, we do not
experience the love of God—the love of Him offering His Son for our salvation—and
we also do not experience the truth of God. We cannot <i>see</i>. We are
trapped in the darkness of our sin. God’s light can permeate all darkness
except one—the darkness in which we wrap ourselves by our own act of will, the
darkness that we choose on our own.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Recall when Jesus meets with
Nicodemus in the night. He says, “Unless one is born of water and the spirit, he
cannot enter the kingdom of God.” He notes this irony: “Are you a teacher of
Israel, and yet you do not understand this? Truly, truly, I say to you, we
speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen; but you do not
receive our testimony.” They do not understand, which is to say that they do
not <i>see</i>. Now, Nicodemus was one of the ones who eventually came to
understand. He came to Jesus in the night, but later, he and Joseph of Arimathea
took away Jesus’s body and buried it, according to Sacred Tradition. He saw
something after Jesus’ death that the Twelve, those Jesus had picked by hand,
did not see.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Why is that? Because the light had
not yet come to the Twelve, and by the word <i>light</i>, I mean that other
aspect of God I mentioned earlier, Truth. God is Truth. The Apostles could not yet
see the Truth until Jesus Christ—the Way the Truth, and the Life—stood in their
presence again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Recall 1 Samuel, when the prophet
Samuel goes to Jesse of Bethlehem to anoint one of his sons as the next king of
Israel. Samuel sees the first of Jesse’s sons and is certain that this is the
one, but God tells him, “Not as man sees does God see.” Without the light of
Christ, we can only judge by human means. With Christ’s light, we see more and
more as God sees. And finally, in the story about the man blind from birth, the
disciples assume that the man’s blindness is on account of his parents’ sin. Jesus
responds to them, “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” By
His actions, He brings light into the world, and through our baptism, we are
made partakers in that light. So we become the light in the world. God’s gift
of grace through love allows us to be the light and truth to others. We are
Christ’s hands and feet, but we also convey His light and grace in our actions,
in our loving response to others, in our testimony to the Truth.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">I mentioned earlier that I wanted to
come back to that figurative light, that which doesn’t enlighten physical
reality but reveals some objective or spiritual truth. There’s a local author, Anthony
Doerr, who wrote a blockbuster book entitled, <i>All the Light We Cannot See</i>.
My wife Gina and I are rereading it after watching the miniseries based on this
novel on Amazon Prime. I encourage you to look it up. My band and I actually
wrote a song around this theme of a light we cannot see. The novel itself deals
with the life of a young blind woman in France in World War II and how she finds
her way around her community without sight, and how she develops a sense of the
world without having the ability to see physically. But there is no doubt that
something in her gives her a moral vision to both find her way around her world
but also to know right and wrong. The latter is the light we cannot see, the
ability to know right from wrong. This light we cannot see is true
enlightenment and exactly what Paul is talking about in his epistle.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">We receive this Eucharist here to
strengthen us so that we can go out and be Christ to the world: hands, feet,
love, light, and truth. Don’t let this grace sit idle in your heart. Take it to your
neighbors, to your coworkers, to the people you can’t stand, and the people who
can’t stand you. Don’t cover the light of truth with a bushel basket. Don’t
hoard the grace that has been given freely to you. Pass on your grace as a gift
to others. Let your light illumine others. In the words of Flannery O’Connor,
“the life you save may be your own.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>Deacon Bill Burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11484509700642430451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16278999.post-5355433529891826692024-02-11T18:31:00.000-07:002024-02-11T18:31:23.556-07:00Seeking Sacramental Healing—Sixth week in Ordinary Time (Cycle B)<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiZsnJGNPp_RJ0Pz3Qcf8oRigUOmP51qABPrClCn3c_nv2lfMfiR03nZo25IrX9BLGTm0Hl9scufjkPV2VD0HcLJ9ZLM4jD4tjwA4MwVv3-nBnStj721AswJPdH_vh5wuTUZjiSjwp1BMij5hkAkJP_KuOSJQMboUk9BRBgjMonFdKkpZ2QdWYH" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiZsnJGNPp_RJ0Pz3Qcf8oRigUOmP51qABPrClCn3c_nv2lfMfiR03nZo25IrX9BLGTm0Hl9scufjkPV2VD0HcLJ9ZLM4jD4tjwA4MwVv3-nBnStj721AswJPdH_vh5wuTUZjiSjwp1BMij5hkAkJP_KuOSJQMboUk9BRBgjMonFdKkpZ2QdWYH" width="240" /></a></div>Leviticus
13:1–2, 44–46; 1 Corinthians 10:31—11:1; Mark 1:40–45<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">I returned to the Catholic faith when I was in my late
30s. For those of you who have practiced your faith steadily for your entire
life, you will never know what it is like to make a twenty-year confession. I
could say that you are blessed never to have to do so, and that would be true.
But likewise, it’s a blessing after such a long time away from the sacraments
and after having wended one’s way through all the poor decisions of a young-adult
life outside the Church to unburden myself and to hear those most beautiful
words of absolution: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyTextIndent2" style="line-height: 150%;">God the Father of mercies,
through the death and resurrection of your son, you have reconciled the world
to yourself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins.
Through the ministry of the church, may God grant you pardon and peace. And I
absolve you of your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit. Amen.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Those words were beautiful the first time I heard them after
20 years, and they are still beautiful now every time I go to reconciliation,
which I try to do every three or four weeks, and I recommend that you do the
same.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It’s really
easy to get bogged down in shame and avoid acknowledging our need for
forgiveness and healing. We get a hint of this in the reading from Leviticus.
Note that the person with the lesion is “brought to the priest”—that is, he
doesn’t present himself, but those who notice his lesion bring him to the
priest. The suggestion, of course, is that the person who might have leprosy
does not come willingly but is forced to come because others see his possible
uncleanliness. Well, thank goodness we don’t have that happening in our parish.
But sometimes in the confessional, people spend more time confessing other
people’s sins, or at least that’s what I’ve heard.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But with
the ancient Israelites, it makes sense. Back then, being branded as a leper
meant that you were an outcast, unclean. You had a duty to warn people away
from yourself, until you somehow were healed from your leprosy. But how could
that happen if you are outcast? Who would heal you? You have to be healed
before you can even approach the priest to examine you and perform the ritual
sacrifices for you to be brought back into the community.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When St.
Paul talks about the burden of the law, this is what he means. And Jesus frequently
mentions the burdens that the scribes and Pharisees put on the shoulders of the
faithful. They lay out the consequences and the costs but give no means to
resolve the situation. If you become unclean, you must hope that somehow you
will become clean again, with no way of being able to make yourself clean. To
paraphrase Psalm 49, we cannot pay our own ransom or the ransom of anyone else.
So how hopeless is the plight of the leper? There is a chasm between him and the
community that he can only pray will be breached by some external force<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Leprosy, of
course, is a figure or type for sin. When I use the terms “figure” and “type,”
I’m using the language of biblical scholars and literary critics. What those
terms mean is that a figure or type is a foreshadow. It’s a pattern that
precedes something else in scripture or literature that helps the second thing
make sense. So if I refer to the crossing of the Red Sea as a kind of baptism,
you see the crossing of the Red Sea in Exodus as having some kind of meaningful
connection to the Rite of Baptism—a cleansing from sin, a transition from
slavery to freedom. If you take bible studies or read commentaries, you’ll be
able to make sense of these analogies or figures, and they salt our sacramental
rites with these hints. If you have listened to our sprinkling rite or the
baptismal rite, you know that we recall every baptismal symbol from scripture:
the separation of all matter from water, the story of Noah, the passage of the
ark of Moses in the Nile, the passage of the people of Israel over the Red Sea,
the passage of Joshua and the nation of Israel over the Jordan—all of these
figures are important for us to <i>grasp</i> our faith. We need scripture to
show us how it all works, and our liturgies are the apparatus by which it all
comes together. And they largely operate through this language of types or <i>typology</i>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Leprosy is a <i>type</i> for sin. The Old Testament
Hebrews could not rid themselves of leprosy, any more than we can rid ourselves
of sin. They had to rely solely on the grace and mercy of God to be healed. And
then they had to be affirmed as clean by a priest before returning to the
community. The gospel reading demonstrates this. The leper seeks healing from
Jesus, saying, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” There is no question and
no hesitation from the leper as to Jesus’ <i>ability</i> to heal. He knows it’s
simply a matter of Jesus’ <i>willingness</i> to heal him, and of course, Jesus
wills it. Notice the reversal that takes place at the end of the gospel
reading. The leper, who is an outcast, comes to Jesus and is healed and then
enters the city again, while Jesus becomes the outcast. He can no longer enter
the city because of the crowds. He essentially switches places with the leper.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">So imagine the courage it must’ve taken the leper, an
outcast, to approach Jesus in this way? To come closer than 150 feet to anyone
meant the possibility of violent reprisals. But he knew that Christ had the
power to heal, and that Christ wished to heal. And he knew that he so
desperately needed healing that only Jesus could give him, so he took the
chance. It must’ve taken courage and humility.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Leprosy, in these readings, represents our uncleanliness,
or <i>dis-ease</i> due to sin. Perhaps no one else recognizes our sinfulness,
no one sees the lesions, sores, and disfigurement that sin causes in us. But
that’s one of the effects of sin. The primary and most important effect of sin
that we must address is the rift it creates with God. The word for sin in Greek
is <i>hamartia.</i> It’s an archery term referring to one’s aim being off. Our
will isn’t pointed in the same direction as God’s. We can be off a little,
which is venial sin, or we can be off a lot, which is grave or even mortal sin.
Even when we commit sins that aren’t very serious—perhaps like holding grudges,
or over indulging in food or drink on occasion, or having a resentful attitude
about some situation—we’re not aiming in the right direction. If we aim
radically in the opposite direction—lying about someone else, stealing,
committing fornication or adultery, or denying charity when the situation
demands it—those are mortal sins. We’re not just missing the mark of God’s will.
We are rejecting God’s will by aiming at something completely different, our own
will. We are turning away from God. That’s the effect of mortal sin.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">We might try to rationalize it away—that’s one of the effects
of sin, clouding and distorting our moral vision to hinder our ability to see
our failings. But if we’re honest with ourselves—if we examine our motivations,
our thoughts, our negative impulses—we come to recognize our need for
forgiveness. That’s half of the battle.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">But then we need to approach Jesus to find the healing
we need. That requires humility. For some of us who have cultivated the habit,
confession is easy. We know that the priest is there to show us God’s mercy,
not to condemn us. But for others of us, we feel the sting of conscience, the
shame of hearing ourselves repeating out loud <i>again</i> the same sins we
take into the confessional every few weeks. We think, “What must this priest
think of me? How can I look him in the face when I see him around town?” But guess
what? First of all, if you’re behind the screen, they don’t know who you are. Second,
your sin isn’t as interesting as you think; they hear worse than what you’ll
confess on a regular basis. And many priests I know say they have the gift of
forgetfulness, meaning that they simply won’t remember your particular sin. So
let it go. They certainly have.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Non-Catholics often ask why they would need to confess
their sins to a priest. Unfortunately, many Catholics say the same thing. But when
we sin mortally, we break communion with God and with the Body of Christ.
Confession is the way that we reconcile with God and the Church. So before we
come to this altar of sacrifice to share the Eucharist in communion with the
Church, we need to prepare, and that often includes confession of our sins.
It’s not only the law of the Church. It’s also noted in scripture. In John
20:22–23, Jesus breathes on the disciples and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of
any, they are retained.” James says in his letter to the Jews in the
dispersion, “Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that
you may be healed.” So for all mortal sin, confession is a necessity before we
can receive the other sacraments. The precepts of the Church obligate us to
sacramental confession once a year if we are aware of any unconfessed mortal
sin.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Remember that the priest is not simply and solely a
man in his role as confessor. He acts <i>in persona Christi</i>, in the person
of Christ. That is, he forgives sins, not by his own power, but by the
authority of Jesus Christ. The priest makes Christ present in his priesthood.
We need God’s mercy and healing, and in His wisdom, He has given us this
sacrament of reconciliation, so that when we hear those words of absolution, we
truly know that God has forgiven us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Deacon Bill Burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11484509700642430451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16278999.post-46027933252930128202024-01-14T18:39:00.005-07:002024-01-14T18:39:37.995-07:00The Body of Christ—Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (Cycle B)<div class="separator"><p style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMkIgTYWCUv7eacl2AqtwZs1uFApBJquDwxzyjberA3AOEmHJ_oJ-3jn_iQMCqMhm2J27PRJwcokEQt8V9XsLP00dcVr_v6zYUI6f2mqozQvXhpRd3FTXJE60M5uFdnRi-_rvhmY8SI3BjeGP0g_b00keLtBbBuwAYmH7QwwJiuNxMMWkxwNis/s1920/bodyofchrist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMkIgTYWCUv7eacl2AqtwZs1uFApBJquDwxzyjberA3AOEmHJ_oJ-3jn_iQMCqMhm2J27PRJwcokEQt8V9XsLP00dcVr_v6zYUI6f2mqozQvXhpRd3FTXJE60M5uFdnRi-_rvhmY8SI3BjeGP0g_b00keLtBbBuwAYmH7QwwJiuNxMMWkxwNis/s320/bodyofchrist.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">1 Samuel 3:3–10, 19; 1
Corinthians 6:13b–15, 17–20; John 1:35–42</span></div><p></p></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-language: HE;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What does it mean to be Catholic? Is it like a special
club where we do calisthenics during the Eucharistic prayer—stand, kneel, sit,
and stand and kneel again? Or a pep club where we sit-down, stand-up fight
fight fight for Jesus? Is it merely a club? In a lot of Christian denominations,
membership in a church is kind of like signing a gym membership. You scout out
which gym-church fits your spiritual fitness needs and sign up for a six-month
membership to see if the pastors/fitness coaches give you the best training
program, and then opt to continue your contract. Some people treat church
membership in that way, as something that is preferential and easily changeable
when ones preferences are no longer being met. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-language: HE;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s not the Church envisioned by Jesus. Jesus
envisioned a Church that is One, as He says in John 17:21, “so that they may
all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in
us, that the world may believe that you sent me.” Being instituted by Christ,
it must be Holy. By the great commission given in Matthew 28:19, the Church is
Catholic, that is, universal. By the giving of the keys in Matthew 16:19 and extended
to the rest of the Twelve in 18:18, the Church is apostolic, that is,
hierarchically composed from the passing on of office from the Apostles to
every bishop from the first century until now. That is why we say in our creeds
that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-language: HE;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Let’s focus in this homily on that first adjective. The
Church is one. While it should not be a question, the oneness of the Church is
something a lot of our Protestant brethren misunderstand. They will often
profess that the Church is one in a spiritual way, and they’re not wholly
wrong. The Church teaches that the Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic
Church, but it can be present and operative in churches that are not fully in
communion—that would be our Orthodox brethren and some schismatic Catholic-ish
branches—and other ecclesial communions—which would be our Protestant and
post-Protestant brethren. While some of these ecclesial communities see the
necessity of worshiping with a “church,” they don’t see those commitments as
permanent affiliation. And there are many Christians who don’t see a need for regular
communion at all. It’s all about “me and Jesus.” Now, a personal relationship
with Christ is definitely important, but it denies the oneness of the creeds
and of Christ’s desire. The second reading really makes this clear in the
analogy of the Church as the Body of Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-language: HE;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Paul in 1 Corinthians asks, “Do you not know that your
bodies are members of Christ?” Your bodies are members of Christ. What does
that mean? Clearly, it suggests connectedness in some way. Is it the
connectedness of a club? Or a fraternal organization? A gym membership? It is
like none of that. The Body of Christ is not simply a matter of agreement on
certain beliefs, or alignment on political principles, or acceptance of certain
ideologies. We are joined by a common baptism and confirmation, and we are joined
by our shared communion in the Eucharist. When Paul proposes members in this
passage, that suggests bonds that are not simply spiritual but physical: skeletal,
cardiovascular, and neural. The Body of Christ is a physical organism. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="mso-bidi-language: HE;">Now for Star Trek fans (I was almost going to troll you and say Star Wars
instead)… no, the Body of Christ is not the Borg. The Borg shares a single will
and operation. Could you imagine a toe of the Body of Christ attempting to do
the work of the eye? Or an elbow trying to be a stomach? That’s chaos! Each
member has its unique role to play. The mystery is about how that all happens.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="mso-bidi-language: HE;">We are joined like a body is joined from various members that all work
together in different capacities. How is that supposed to work? How are they
joined to the Body of Christ, if what the Church teaches true? Sometimes the
Church <i>seems</i> like it’s all thumbs, but those of us who aren’t thumbs
well recognize that that is not truly the case. No one can put a thumb in your
eye if there isn’t an eye somewhere. The Church is composed of many members,
all hopefully working in concord. We have to recognize what grants this unity
to the Christian faithful.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-language: HE;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So let's start with the Sacrament of Baptism. In the
understanding of many of our Protestant brethren, baptism is merely a <i>symbol</i>
of our acceptance of Christ as our savior. That is not the historical
understanding of baptism, nor is it a scriptural understanding of baptism. Scripture
does not say that baptism is optional, is purely symbolic, or is reserved for
adults only. In the gospel of John, Jesus says that you <i>must be reborn by
water and the spirit</i>. In Matthew, he tells the Apostles to go to all
nations <i>baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit,</i> which is the precise formula the Church uses. The Church even
issued a document fairly recently explaining precisely the form or words of
baptism. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-language: HE;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In Acts, in response to the Pharisees who ask how they
can atone for having crucified Christ, Peter says, “Be baptized in the name of
Jesus Christ.” In his first epistle, Peter says, “Baptism now saves you.” It
replaces the Jewish practice of circumcision. Paul in Romans notes that we die
and rise with Jesus in our baptism. So there is the scriptural foundation for
our belief. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-language: HE;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Church teaches that baptism joins us to the Church.
It is the means by which people <i>begin communion</i> with the Church. It has
other effects as well, most notably cleansing from Original Sin and personal
sin. But it is a sacrament of initiation, and what it initiates is membership
in the Body of Christ. And not just baptisms in a Catholic church! If you are
baptized using the proper matter and form—that is, with water and with the
words "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit" and with the intention that the Church has, you are joined to
the Catholic church even if you are baptized in a non-denominational community.
In this respect, it corresponds to the circumcision of the Jews, as Paul
teaches in Colossians 2:11. Note that circumcision took place typically on the
eighth day after birth for Jewish boys, so by necessity, it was done on
infants. If that is the case, it follows that baptism too is legitimately done
on infants, and nothing in scripture indicates otherwise.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-language: HE;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So baptism joins us to the Church. If you have been
baptized, you are a member of the Body of Christ. Even if you aren't Catholic and
you've been baptized with the proper formula, you've been joined to the Church.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-language: HE;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That's the first of the Sacraments of Initiation. Two
other important sacraments are also part of this group of sacraments of
initiation: Confirmation and Eucharist. Confirmation is important, but I want
to focus on the Eucharist as it is central to our worship and also central to
our understanding of what it means to be the Church.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-language: HE;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The word "Eucharist" comes from the Greek word
meaning thanksgiving, which is appropriate, as it is the full expression of the
early Jewish <i>todah</i> or thanksgiving offering of bread and wine. But note
that we so frequently refer to it by its other name—communion. One name
reflects what we do—notably, giving thanks. The other name reflects what it
does—brings about communion. It makes us one with Christ and with each other.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-language: HE;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I don't hear this old aphorism very often any more, but
it was very popular back in the 70s and 80s: you are what you eat. The point
then was that if you ate something healthy, you'd be healthy, and if you ate
junk, you'd feel like junk. But it applies in our case. We are joined to the
Body of Christ in baptism, and when we receive Eucharist, we receive the body,
blood, soul, and Divinity of Christ. And if we are what we eat, that means we
become—more and more—the Body of Christ. And that means that we are not simply
joined to Christ, but we are joined to each other. Communion is both vertical,
with God, and horizontal, with each other.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-language: HE;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We are members of the Body of Christ! Appendages!
Extensions! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-language: HE;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And this status implies something about how we are
supposed to be in the world. We all have different roles to play. As Paul
notes, some of us are called to preach and teach, some to give hospitality,
some to interpret and others to prophesy. I’m apparently called to use bad
analogies and dad jokes in my homilies. We all have a calling to do something
for Christ. We are, as some have put it, His hands and feet. We are one of the
primary ways in which God works in the world. He can intervene through
miracles. He can reveal Himself directly to people in mystical experiences. But
for the most part, what He uses to bring about His will in the world is <i>you</i>
and <i>me</i>. We are His instruments—His hands, His feet, and His heart.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-language: HE;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You see, we as Catholics believe that sacraments have
effects. They change us. They are not merely empty symbols. Some sacraments are
a point of no return. They make what philosophers call an <i>ontological</i>
change in us. They mark us and change our very being permanently. Baptism is
one such sacrament. Ordination is another. But all have effects on us because
all of them convey grace. That is part of the definition of a sacrament: a
visible sign instituted by Christ to give grace.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-language: HE;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Eucharist—communion—is a tremendous gift to the
Church and the central act of worship for the faithful. It is a primary means
that Christ gave us for our sanctification. It should change us more and more
to be like Christ, and that enables us to go out into the world as Christ's
hands, feet, and heart. <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We need to be
Christ in the world. We need to be the gospel in the world. Some people will
never set foot or never consider setting foot in this cathedral. They will not
encounter the Gospel here unless they encounter the Gospel in you. You may be
the only Gospel they ever hear. So preach it in your actions! Let your Catholic
Christian freak flag fly!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-language: HE;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We're going to encounter the sacrament of Eucharist
today—this powerful mystery of our faith. This sacrament can change our lives,
but only if we allow the grace it gives us to work in us. Jesus wants to come
into our lives and transform them. But to do that, we have to surrender our
lives to Him. Only then can we truly be His hands, His feet, and His heart to
the world.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Deacon Bill Burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11484509700642430451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16278999.post-89074073917816817312023-08-13T18:56:00.002-06:002023-08-13T18:56:13.770-06:00Still, Small Voice—Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Cycle A)<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhajn3J-0j0KWFKSqN3YiSe8YAzkzVvn9mpybmS8ap9ZhfTXL9n-KsTv4efLBgb-fBBaXZd_Nz70rEz9BYspMMICMglp7em_fJ-taout2JP-VkD8-mcWg-RuqtrYp-SQqtChzO6ddMn5zB1nNURPxEItZesm2WWwUXmyPMpim53KPg3QOB4Da_2" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="302" data-original-width="462" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhajn3J-0j0KWFKSqN3YiSe8YAzkzVvn9mpybmS8ap9ZhfTXL9n-KsTv4efLBgb-fBBaXZd_Nz70rEz9BYspMMICMglp7em_fJ-taout2JP-VkD8-mcWg-RuqtrYp-SQqtChzO6ddMn5zB1nNURPxEItZesm2WWwUXmyPMpim53KPg3QOB4Da_2" width="320" /></a></p><p>1 Kings 19:9a, 10–13a; Romans 9:1–5; Matthew 14:22–33</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I will
confess to not always being the best listener. I’m easily distracted, and when
my focus is on something, people really need to get my attention if they’re
going to talk to me. Just the other day, my wife said to me, “Are you even
listening to me?” To which I replied, “That’s a really strange way to start a
conversation.” But seriously, saying anything to the back of my head or from
another room is guaranteed to elicit many “uh huhs” and “okays” but rarely
indicate communication. Nowadays, Gina will come in and say, “I need to tell
you something,” so I can then turn around and give her my full attention. I’m
not saying that it’s good for me to require that, but it is required. I’m
trying to improve.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It struck
me that perhaps God is dealing with the same challenge with Elijah at Mt.
Horeb. The back story is that Elijah has run for over forty days and forty
nights to escape from Queen Jezebel, who wants to destroy him—and reasonably so
since he has had all of her idolatrous prophets put to death. But he's the last
of the prophets of the Lord of Israel and is certain that death is coming for
him soon.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He's
fearful, and he does the only thing he can think of. He runs to the mountain of
the Lord. He hides in the cave waiting for the Lord to come to him, which God does.
And he asks, “Why are you here?” Elijah’s response, which we don’t have in our
reading, begins with, “I have been most zealous for the Lord, but the
Israelites have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your
prophets to the sword. I alone am left, and they seek to take my life.” His
zealousness has caused him to choose his own path rather than the one God has
chosen for him, perhaps because he believes God wants his wrath to blaze forth.
His actions betray his own misunderstanding of who God is. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>God
questions Him twice, and it might help to read the passage out loud to get the
subtle difference in meaning. But let’s step through the reading:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>After slaying all of Jezabel’s
prophets of Baal, Elijah grows fearful of retaliation and flees to Mt. Horeb<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>On the way, he grows weary,
despairs, and lies down to let death take him. An angel comes and gives him a
72-hour energy cake, and he completes his run to Horeb.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>When he gets there, we hear
the Lord question him, and he begins by telling God that he’s zealous.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>God tells him to go to the
mouth of the cave and wait for Him.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>As he waits, he experiences
these cataclysms, but none of these are God speaking to him. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>When God does come, it’s in
that “tiny whispering sound.” And He asks the same question: “Why are you
here?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Only in the whisper does Elijah hear the Lord. Now, I prefer
the translation in the Revised Standard Version of the bible: Rather than a
whisper, as in our New American Bible translation, the RSV says "a <i>still,
small voice</i>." <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A still,
small voice. To me, that has a different character than a whisper. A still
voice has a ring to it, while a whisper sort of blows away with the breeze. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elijah
suffers from what many of us suffer—a projection on to God what we think He
wills rather than what He actually has sent us to do. If you read 1 Kings,
you’ll find that Elijah gets no clear mandate from God to begin his ministry.
In 1 Kings 17, he simply pronounces a drought until he lifts it. God’s response
is interesting. He immediately tells Elijah to go to a refuge where he’ll have
water and be fed. <span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;">All along the way,
God has protected him, but we don’t see God telling Elijah what to prophecy. It
is only after God comes to him and speaks to him in that still, small voice
does Elijah come to understand what God wants of him. But before he could respond
to God’s call and his vocation, he needed to listen.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>In my own life, it is <i>not
always</i> the big events, the big noises or disruptions, that the Lord uses to
get my attention. He often has to use the still, small voice to get my
attention—like a police officer speaking to a drunk and slowly lowering the volume
to get the intoxicated person to focus on communicating clearly and calmly, or a
parent bringing the intensity of a child's emotions down to a place where real
communication can happen. That's what the Lord does to us: talks us down from
our emotional upheavals to a place where we can actually hear what He's saying
to us. Maybe that's why He came to us as a small child rather than in all His
glory.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In the gospel
reading, Jesus approaches the apostles walking across the water of the Sea of
Galilee. The water is rough and tossing the boat around, but Jesus calmly walks
toward them, prompting them to fear that they are seeing an apparition rather
than the Lord. Peter puts Him to the test: “if it is you, bid me come to you on
the water,” and so Jesus does. Peter steps out and walks to Jesus. But then he
looks down and sees the rough water roiling around him. He gets distracted and
loses his composure, finally crying out to Jesus to save him. He forgets what
he has heard and is distracted by the worldly, so he sinks into it. Jesus saves
him and asks, “Why did you doubt?” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Why indeed.
He had already walked to Jesus on the water. Jesus was right there with him,
but he got distracted and stopped seeing, stopped listening. And that’s not the
last time. After Jesus tells Peter, “Before the cock crows, you will deny me
three times.” Wouldn’t that prompt you to pay attention? Yet again, he shows
the same lack of faith and betrays Jesus, this leader of the Twelve, the one Jesus
calls "rock." <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That's often
our story, too. That's us. We get so focused on worldly matters that we forget
to listen. We’re so distracted by our work, our recreation, and our devices
that we can’t hear that still, small voice. We might be living by Christ’s commandments
and living what looks like a good Christian life, but we’re not really
listening. So sometimes, Jesus has to let us stumble. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Jesus knows
us so well. He knows that most of us have to encounter Him in ways that are
basic to human experience: in the still, small voice; in the cry of an infant
in a manger; in a hand reaching out to help us when we stumble. That's why we
have Jesus here with us in the Word of God, why we celebrate His presence in
the Eucharist, and why we reserve Him in the tabernacle for the sick and for
adoration. That's why Jesus gave the Church sacraments of matter.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Because if
Jesus left us here with no sensible means of His presence—no physical, material
reminder of Him—we would always be fleeing to some Mt. Horeb somewhere trying
to find Him or sinking in the chaos of our contemporary culture. If we want to
hear what God wants of us, what Jesus wants of us, we need to seek someplace
quiet and listen for that still, small voice. <o:p></o:p></p>Deacon Bill Burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11484509700642430451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16278999.post-75211575512086448912023-07-20T18:55:00.001-06:002023-07-21T11:49:51.999-06:00On Canes and Cannulas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhBWi0N2NoldCh2_k6DWqHJoJneNGZIS7N5M1czLQFXedeTJfDPOauyLFAX6QQXQFWTFA3rzMq56TnoOt_N6WNQofbl8U51pp2F5ZSVBrbTHlP1-o0gCT-vBK7lNbXTkHdojmu8fY_oBGiFjyJXhrt5yLzeZpHPa7-ydORHyMzEP65LplFLRwsN" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="552" data-original-width="552" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhBWi0N2NoldCh2_k6DWqHJoJneNGZIS7N5M1czLQFXedeTJfDPOauyLFAX6QQXQFWTFA3rzMq56TnoOt_N6WNQofbl8U51pp2F5ZSVBrbTHlP1-o0gCT-vBK7lNbXTkHdojmu8fY_oBGiFjyJXhrt5yLzeZpHPa7-ydORHyMzEP65LplFLRwsN" width="240" /></a></div><div><br /></div>The last three months have given me probably one of the best lessons of my life in terms of my own dependence on others. This time has revealed to me not only my own personal limitations, but also the grace of friendship, and the kindness of strangers.<div><br /></div><div>About 3 months ago, I suddenly began having problems with my right hip. At first, it was merely a matter of feeling a catch in my hip when I attempted to stand up I found ways to work around it, and it didn't prevent me from my workout routine (4-5 days a week). I was still able to squat my body weight 3 x 10 at the time and do sprints on the elliptical machine, ride my bike, and do other resistance training. I did have some fatigue in movement, but for the most part, I could still get around. My chiropractor was concerned, and after a few weeks of this, he recommended that I see an orthopedic urgent-care facility. </div><div><br /></div><div>I dropped in to Direct Orthopedic Care, and they got me into an examination room. I discussed my symptoms with the PA. She sent me for x-rays, which revealed that I have moderate to severe osteoarthritis of the hip. The x-ray showed next to no cartilage in my hip socket. I have no idea why I didn't feel the effects until this time. </div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, I've been on various treatments: steroid pills, cortisone injections, and so on. Things were going fairly well, but I had a couple of trips coming up. The first was for a residential requirement for my graduate program. For me, sitting and immobility seems to be the biggest aggravators. The first first trip to Ottawa was as direct as one can ever get from Boise. All in all, it was uneventful. The problems began arising as the weeks progressed. We were not housed on the campus of St. Paul's University, as we originally expected, but at the University of Ottawa some distance away. This required a lot more planning and navigation than I intended, and a lot more walking. I did fine for the first week, but by early week 2, my hip flared up, and I had a strange illness one day after class. My classmates all looked after me, providing pain relievers, bringing meals, and otherwise just watching out for my well being. By the end of the second week, I was more than ready to return home, but I was grateful for the care and concern they showed for me.</div><div><br /></div><div>When I returned home, I knew I couldn't continue to walk unassisted. I purchased a cane and began using it whenever I had to walk for long periods of time. I learned that the accommodation of my arthritis when I walked caused me to develop bursitis. So I got another shot of cortisone and a refill of pain meds to last me through the Rome trip. I mentioned these challenges on Facebook and my concern about sitting for 18 hours of flight. Someone commented, "Don't be too proud to take advantage of the wheelchair service." I did not hesitate, and I never would've lasted had I tried to make my way on my own. I had assistance from a classmate to get from the airport to our domus. I would've had a difficult time moving my bags without him.</div><div><br /></div><div>Rome presented its own set of challenges. I was able to get around for quite a bit of the day using my cane, and I used public transport when it seemed appropriate. Still, there were times when I was simply spent and had to lie down to recover. The cobble-stone streets of Rome certainly didn't help, but the logistical challenges of getting anywhere were really the issue. If you're going to the Vatican (which we were, every day), you will be walking a lot. If you're visiting locations around Rome, you will be walking a lot. Even the people who were in great physical health said that the uneven roads caused their feet and legs to ache. </div><div><br /></div><div>Yet my classmates and my instructors watched out for me, made sure I could get where I needed to be, and assisted me in various ways. When I came down with a cold (more on that later), one of my classmates (and the only other permanent deacon in the class) picked up some cough medicine for me. And on the last day, my travel companion helped me to get to the taxi stand to make our way to the airport. Even the services people were so solicitous, especially the women who were transporting me in Fiumicino airport. (I won't go into a critique of Ita Airways in general here. It seems Italian airlines have a very different idea of service than others.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Two weeks in Rome gave me a new appreciation for accepting hospitality and assistance. I was humbled by the care and concern that people showed—those who knew me and those who didn't. </div><div><br /></div><div>They day after I returned home, I could tell the cold I had caught needed additional treatment. Plus my arthritis needed something more than what I had been taking to manage the pain. I went to urgent care to deal with both. The PA thought that I was simply having an asthma attack, so he prescribed Prednisone and sent me on my way, explaining that the Prednisone would likely help both the asthma and my hip inflammation. As I was driving to pick up the prescription, he asked me to come back to get a blood draw in case they had overlooked something. I did. Several hours later, he called and told me that my D-Dimer levels were really high and that I needed to go to the ER.</div><div><br /></div><div>D-Dimer is a protein fragment that appears in your bloodstream when a blood clot dissolves. The elevated presence could have been an indication of blood clots in my lungs—obviously not good thing. So I took and Uber to the ER. My brother Pat joined me a few minutes after I arrived. We eventually made it to an examination room. The med tech put me on oxygen and hooked me up to the monitoring equipment. Eventually, they took more blood and put in an IV line. After hours of waiting, I was taken to medical imaging for a CT scan (which is oh-so much less nerve wracking than an MRI). The results of that scan (for which we had to wait another hour or two) showed, not blood clots, but pneumonia in both lungs. After looking at some factors (oxygen level, age, coherence, etc), the physician decide to send me home with two rounds of antibiotics and oxygen.</div><div><br /></div><div>So for the last week and a half, I have been hobbled both by the hip pain, requiring the assistance of a cane, and also a cannula, which effectively tethers me, makes movement challenging, and makes exercise darn near impossible. And cane and cannula make me vulnerable in a way I have never experienced. </div><div><br /></div><div>But I have also experienced so much grace: the care and concern of my classmates and instructors, as well as the airport staff, the care of my healthcare providers, my wonderful parishioners and friends who have offered their prayers for me. So while I'd like to be done with the cannula and less dependent on the cane, what brought them into my life has been an odd blessing and grace for me.</div><div><br /></div><div>EDIT: I don't want to give the impression that Gina has not been supportive. These last three months would've been intolerable without her care and support. The point was really that I received so much from people who had no need to do so. Gina has been here during the roughest moments and has been a pillar for me.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /><p> </p></div>Deacon Bill Burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11484509700642430451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16278999.post-81666682776477652912023-07-09T10:49:00.000-06:002023-07-09T18:43:59.086-06:00Yoke Yourself to Him—Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Cycle A)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHFgg6KCUZUtnL3v4SbIkRQRPXMZLHj-w0X6l4AE_VskveuK9tZHJxg1pDkV4iAbuML5fGk1qjy2xddmBaMOoegQyQsrPuZxHSbGGNgR6K9fEDUpuOu4PTXi76dGaVoPV5BiU3/s1600/jesus_entry.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1084" data-original-width="1600" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHFgg6KCUZUtnL3v4SbIkRQRPXMZLHj-w0X6l4AE_VskveuK9tZHJxg1pDkV4iAbuML5fGk1qjy2xddmBaMOoegQyQsrPuZxHSbGGNgR6K9fEDUpuOu4PTXi76dGaVoPV5BiU3/s320/jesus_entry.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><i>Revised 9 July 2023</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">
Zechariah 9:9–10; Romans 8:9, 11–13; Matthew 11:25–30</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>One of my granddaughters used to have a real sense for or awareness of the mystical. When she was around 4, Gina was reading to her for the first time from a book of saints for girls. She listened with rapt attention to the stories of St. Clare and St. Thérèse, but when Gina came to St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, she said something rather odd. St. Frances was an Italian-American religious who came to the US and started hospitals, schools, and orphanages and spent her life in service to the sick and poor. Our granddaughter took one look at St. Frances and said, "Oh, she's my nurse!" To this day, we have no idea where that recognition came from, or how she came to connect St. Frances to nursing.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Children, though, seem to have a knack for faith in the Divine. When I was a child, I accepted my parents' faith wholly and completely, and I loved the stories of Christ, the saints, and the people of the Old Testament. It wasn't until I grew to the wise old age of 13 that I began to question it and, eventually at 17, to leave the faith. It's not uncommon for adolescents to begin to assert their own will and put their mind to use, and they become too wise too soon. Children have an openness to faith that adolescents and adults often do not.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>These little ones are who Jesus speaks about in the Gospel reading today. Our Gospel Acclamation this week says, "although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned, you have revealed them to little ones." In Matthew 18:4, Jesus says, "Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." But notice that Jesus isn't speaking to children. He speaks to his disciples. He calls them his "little ones" and encourages them to seek with a childlike faith. Jesus is comparing those who humble themselves and who trust in Him and His teaching to children, in contrast to those who trust in the wisdom of the world—the proud, the haughty, the jaded, and the cynical.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Now Jesus isn't asking His disciples to do something He's not willing to do. As the reading closes, Jesus says, " Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart." Just the opposite of proud and haughty—meek and humble. That word "meek" gives us a link back to our first reading from the Book of Zechariah: "a just savior is he, meek and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass."</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>This passage might remind you of the gospel readings from Palm Sunday, in which all three of the synoptic gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—have Jesus instructing two disciples to go to Bethphage and to retrieve a colt and bring it back to him, which He then rides triumphantly into Jerusalem. Clearly, you can see the allusion that the gospel writers set up here with this passage from Zechariah: "O daughter Jerusalem! See, your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, meek and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass." Matthew even quotes this same passage, and admittedly goes a bit overboard with the parallel, having Jesus enter into Jerusalem on the back of both the donkey and its foal. The three evangelists were all clamoring to make the same point. This is the one! The anointed! The messiah! </div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>But the Jews of the time were expecting someone more obvious, someone with power and stature. They expected a mighty king, a military savior—maybe coming on a war horse—or at very least a mighty... war donkey*. But that's not who Zechariah says is coming—not a mighty warrior, but a just savior, meek and riding on a colt. You can see, then, how a highly educated scribe, a scholar of the law, a Pharisee, a priest, or a member of the Sanhedrin, might look at this man entering Jerusalem on the back of a colt and have some doubts or maybe even scoff. How will this man riding on a donkey save us?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Jesus counsels his disciples to look with different eyes, with a different heart, with simplicity and humility. And He comes to us in simplicity and humility—as an infant in a manger, on the back of a donkey, in the simple offering of bread and wine—and He transforms us into something greater. But we can't be transformed if we are already too full of ourselves and our own accomplishment. In the Liturgy of the Hours, we sometimes pray Psalm 123:3-4, which says, “Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us, for we have had more than enough of contempt. Too long our soul has been sated with the scorn of those who are at ease, the contempt of the proud.” How can we recognize our need for transformation if we come in pride? How can we hear simple wisdom if we are too full of the wisdom of the world? Usually, it's those moments in which the wisdom of the world fails us so badly that we recognize our need for a savior.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I like to share a prayer that was written by Thomas Merton. It's often called the Seeker's prayer, and it’s a prayer of great humility. It goes like this:</div><div class="MsoNormal">My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. </div><div class="MsoNormal">I do not see the road ahead of me. </div><div class="MsoNormal">I cannot know for certain where it will end. </div><div class="MsoNormal">Nor do I really know myself, </div><div class="MsoNormal">and the fact that I think that I am following your will </div><div class="MsoNormal">does not mean that I am actually doing so. </div><div class="MsoNormal">But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. </div><div class="MsoNormal">And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. </div><div class="MsoNormal">I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.</div><div class="MsoNormal">That's what Jesus means when He says we need to seek Him with humble and childlike faith. He comes humble and meek to offer Himself to us and to lead us to the Father. When we humble ourselves and come to Jesus meekly and say, "I do not know the way," Jesus answers back, "Yoke yourself to me, and I'll show you."</div>
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Deacon Bill Burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11484509700642430451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16278999.post-16020363210044506212023-06-18T10:26:00.003-06:002023-06-18T10:26:54.707-06:00The Sheep of His Flock—Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time (Cycle A)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhI99cwWo2oCXiRwt2VU6CdUO4STZt5Co3QpcO3Fmb1p9W7Z_SpM0jsjKV16f82Oe4yWVdw8OMoRC3jZUhAR_2YwE5tdhFXUdWmlNOIZQcHMZrDSE5O6-VP-gk9dBKc6-dhEpmnIpPNP8JJ47JJ4mKnXvK8t_TWHeEosWNPywm8v7fPEauSGw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1370" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhI99cwWo2oCXiRwt2VU6CdUO4STZt5Co3QpcO3Fmb1p9W7Z_SpM0jsjKV16f82Oe4yWVdw8OMoRC3jZUhAR_2YwE5tdhFXUdWmlNOIZQcHMZrDSE5O6-VP-gk9dBKc6-dhEpmnIpPNP8JJ47JJ4mKnXvK8t_TWHeEosWNPywm8v7fPEauSGw" width="320" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Exodus 19:2–6a; Romans 5:6–11; Matthew 9:36–10:8<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>About 19
years ago, I was offered a contract position at HP working on a program that
really fit right into my niche. And the manager who brought me on gave me
better terms than what I had asked for or expected. In short, because he knew
the value of my background and the freedom he had with his budget, he knew more
than I did about what he could offer. I worked for him for almost 7 years, when
he had to let my contract expire because of budgetary pressures. However, he
stayed in touch with me, and he looked for opportunities to bring me back.
Finally, in 2021, he found a role for me as a full-time member of his team, and
he brought me back into the fold. He retired just a few months ago, and I’ll
miss his generosity and his forbearance that allowed him to give me a new
opportunity at HP. I’ve said many times that he’s the best manager I’ve ever
had.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That
experience was one of a few in my life of someone taking on my well-being and
my concerns and making them their concerns, in this case, professionally. I’m
going to miss his guidance. I do recall other times when people have selflessly
stepped up and gone out of their way to help me. I like to think that I’ve done
that for others as well.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When we think
of God, we usually don’t think of Him as someone who steps in and goes out of
His way to help us or as someone selfless who goes beyond the norm to assist us.
Why is that? I think that it’s because we have the wrong understanding of God,
that we view Him with the wrong perspective. We think of His commandments, His
wrath, His judgment. We forget that we didn’t begin with any of that. While we
have God as our Father, we didn’t start in this adversarial relationship, as
most fathers don’t begin as adversaries with their children. How did we get to this
adversarial view of God, and how can we remember right relationship?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We have been
adopted by God—that is the nature of our relationship. We aren’t simply
generated but chosen. That’s the point of our first reading. God has led the
Hebrews out of Egypt and tells them that He has made them His holy people: “You
shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. That is what you must tell
the Israelites.” And He spends the rest of the time between their release from
slavery training them up through His law and leading them to the promised land.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As St. Paul
writes in Galatians 3:24-26, the law was a pedagogue, a teacher in the ways of
Christ, to lead us to justification. God was trying to train the Israelites not
to engage in the pagan practices of their neighbors. He did lay down penalties
for when they strayed back to the practices of the pagans in Egypt and all
around them. In the Old Testament, we see this described as punishments, but as
a practical matter, we know that certain behaviors lead to negative
consequences. Perhaps this was really the point: keep living like the pagans,
and you’ll keep experiencing the consequences of those evil behaviors. That
reciprocity is something our postmodern world seems to have forgotten. Some
behaviors lead to bad outcomes. God was trying to train the Israelites in
righteousness so that they would not suffer the consequences of unrighteous
living. But this old covenant wasn’t a one-way street. God, of course, gave so
much first before adopting the Israelites as his people. Reciprocity certainly
made sense. But as in the garden of Eden, sometimes free will gets in the way.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Salvation
history shows time and again this abundant generosity, motivated by an abundant
love. St. Paul lays it all out in our reading from Romans. God’s generosity
goes beyond the mere bond of friendship to a complete giving of Himself in His
Son: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">For Christ, while we were still
helpless, yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly. Indeed, only with
difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one
might even find courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we
were still sinners Christ died for us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This passage is a good instruction for us. We need to be
willing to accept people and love them where they are and walk with them as a
guide to a better place. Essentially, that was God’s relationship with Israel and
what it is with us. He knows we’re going to fall. He knows we’re going to screw
up. He walks with us anyway. He says to us, “I love you as you are, but you can’t
stay here, or you’ll die.” That’s not simply judgment or justice. That’s also mercy.
These two qualities are joined at the hip. We have to know what justice is to
show real mercy. That’s how God approaches us. If we’re to love others as God
loves us, we have to approach others in the same way.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now, given
that context, some of what we hear in the gospel of Matthew is a little
perplexing, specifically that Jesus limits the ministry of His apostles to the House
of Israel, those under the first covenant. This isn’t the only time Jesus shows
a partiality for reaching out to Jews only. You recall the words of Jesus to
the Syrophoenician woman in Tyre when she asks Him to deliver her daughter from
possession. In response, He says, “Let the children first be fed, for it is not
right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” That sounds
rather insulting if we’re to understand the new covenant to be truly universal.
Some commentaries suggest that it’s meant to be a test of the woman’s faith,
perhaps as a demonstration to the Jews who are also present. It’s hard to say.
In any case, when she reveals the depth of her faith, He relents and delivers her
daughter.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Jesus’ mission
was indeed universal, but He had to begin by bringing back those who had
strayed, the lost sheep of Israel. Only after He reminded them of their
covenant with God and how it would be fulfilled did He reach out to the Gentiles.
When He sent the apostles out to the lost sheep of Israel, He was sending them
out to re-evangelize them to give them again the good news. You might’ve heard
the term used many times by Pope St. John Paul II—the new evangelization. In
effect, that’s what the apostles are doing. They are sharing the good news of
God’s redemption to those who needed to hear it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Do you get a
sense of recapitulation here? That what was happening happens again and again
in our history? In the 19<sup>th</sup> century, the western world sent
missionaries all over the world to share the gospel, most notably here to Idaho
and the northwest. Even today, Idaho is considered mission territory for the
Church. The coincidence now is that the people to whom western missionaries went
in the 17<sup>th</sup> through 19<sup>th</sup> centuries now come here to our
state to evangelize us. We think of the missions being in Africa and Asia, but
the truth is that the Church has been growing faster there for decades, while
the Christian faith in the western world has been bleeding out for years. We
have priests from Vietnam, from several countries in Africa, from India, and of
course, from South and Central America all coming here to remind us that God
loves us and wants us to be with him. The new mission of evangelization has
come to us to remind us of what we heard in Psalm 100 earlier: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Know that the LORD is God, <br />
our maker to whom we belong, <br />
whose people we are, God’s well-tended flock.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Indeed, what was once a predominantly Christian nation is
becoming far less so. There are populations in North America where Christianity
has diminished to minority status. Why is that? I personally believe it is
because the Church in the mid-20<sup>th</sup> century forgot its mission. It
forgot the reason for its existence. Segments of the Church became more interested
in being akin to a non-governmental organization dispensing economic assistance
than a mission Church providing spiritual assistance. And in some places, some
segments of the Church were concerned more about power and wealth for their own
sake. A body that forgets its mission grows corrupt. That’s what happened to
the Jews of Jesus’ time, and that has happened many times over the history of
the Church. That recognition is what led to the maxim<i> ecclesia semper
reformanda est</i>: “the Church is always in need of reform.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s what
the new evangelization is all about: the need for renewal and reform, and not
just the Church out there, but the Church in here, the Church as it abides in
each one of us in communion. In a few moments, we will take part in that
central mystery that we so beautifully celebrated in such form last Sunday, the
Eucharist—the body, blood, soul, and divinity of our Lord. That communion joins
us with God and with one another to strengthen us in our part of that mission
to re-evangelize the world. But that will only work if you take what you
receive here at Mass and make it real in the way you live your lives.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Deacon Bill Burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11484509700642430451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16278999.post-31298682242246994862023-04-23T09:58:00.001-06:002023-04-23T09:58:11.719-06:00Jesus is Risen—Third Sunday of Easter (Cycle A)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwYq7lBDGCjy8s7U31kUdmLMvXqVFvoKMneJ1ZwQXe202MdlLomtPPHeVzmBMAKbnirkxtKE482DPFlNXIF4ukey6YiGigSh_y982nv6BjepKAHSfi18LgYoO0j7w1DHnC6_9-Q7Pj9NttBRBG9Q3R7Pm4hTc5uNcJD0SRAIXw-yHH7N0Cpw/s500/RoadtoEmmauswebready.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="281" data-original-width="500" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwYq7lBDGCjy8s7U31kUdmLMvXqVFvoKMneJ1ZwQXe202MdlLomtPPHeVzmBMAKbnirkxtKE482DPFlNXIF4ukey6YiGigSh_y982nv6BjepKAHSfi18LgYoO0j7w1DHnC6_9-Q7Pj9NttBRBG9Q3R7Pm4hTc5uNcJD0SRAIXw-yHH7N0Cpw/s320/RoadtoEmmauswebready.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><h1><o:p></o:p></h1>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Acts 2:14,
22–33; 1 Peter 1:17–21; Luke 24:13–35<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I don’t know if you’ve heard, but
apparently Jesus never really existed—or if He did, He’s just a copy of some
other pagan god who already existed before Him. Have you heard this claim? It’s
a favorite of contemporary atheists, and you might hear it during Easter or
Christmas seasons on the History Channel, which “I prefer to call the Heresy
Channel” when it comes to anything dealing with the Christian faith. They will
often pull out examples from pagan mythology: Osiris, Tammuz, Adonis,
Dionysius. Or they might compare Jesus with other savior figures like Mithras.
They point out all the similarities among their stories, and they make a very
compelling case at first blush that these parallels prove imitation—that since
one thing came after the other, the one that followed is an imitation of the
other. We’re told that these pagan gods are just like Jesus, except that they
were never beings who <b>existed</b> in human history. None of these
mythologies suggest that these gods were human beings. <b>This is a unique claim
we make for Jesus</b>, and it is a claim that no reputable historian denies—that
Jesus was a person who walked on earth and existed in human history. The
documentary evidence overwhelmingly supports this fact.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We shouldn’t be surprised by such attacks
on our beliefs, especially now when our culture seems so unable to filter out
true and fake news. But we can counter such claims by knowing the facts, knowing
scripture, and knowing what constitutes documentary history. In short, we have evidence,
and they don’t. I encourage the curious among you to delve into the writings of
the early Church Fathers to settle your minds, particularly the Apostolic
fathers and the apologists of the late first and second centuries.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Sadly, some scripture scholars and
theologians engage in similar tactics. The claim of Jesus’ spirit-only
resurrection has been bandied about in the last 200 years by some Protestant theologians
and even by some 20th century Catholic theologians who found the dogmas of the faith
too restrictive to their intellectual freedom. These claims resurface ancient
heresies from the early second century and after that denied Jesus’ bodily resurrection.
Beginning in the 19<sup>th</sup> century, some theologians have sought to “demythologize”
Christianity and to incorporate more of an enlightenment perspective on Christian
faith. This has led to a reduced emphasis on Jesus as God <b>and</b> Man (the Hypostatic
union) and more emphasis on His humanity alone, a very low Christology, and it has
led to the heretical notion that Jesus only experienced a<i> spiritual</i>
resurrection and no bodily resurrection.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This trend continues today with some modern
scripture scholars. They make a great deal about “inconsistencies” among the
gospels, and they take these small inconsistencies to make a big claim: that
Jesus never really appeared after His death, that these accounts in the gospel
are simply theological musings on a “deeper” spiritual awakening that happened
in the Apostles after Christ’s death. Rather than actually seeing Jesus, as the
gospels report, the early Christians began to recognize Christ in each other. They
saw Jesus embodied in the faith of the community, in the breaking of the bread,
and in the unity of the early Church. In short, they deny the faith that we
profess in our creed each time we pray the Rosary or the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We need to remember first and
foremost that the gospel accounts are not merely fiction stories or wishful
thinking. They are eyewitness accounts. They are primarily historical, even if
they are not historical texts as we understand them in modern times. They and
the New Testament letters record what the early Church witnessed and taught. This
is what the Church firmly holds, which it states explicitly in the <i>Catechism
of the Catholic Church</i> paragraph 126 and in <i>Dei Verbum</i> 19. Any
purportedly Catholic scholarship that dispenses with these facts is contrary to
the faith.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Our gospel reading today is a perfect
example of a passage that is frequently interpreted this way. The two disciples
on the road to Emmaus meet a man whom they don’t recognize but who is Jesus
raised from the dead. They report to Jesus His own death, their own hopes, and that
angels reported Him to be alive after all. Now, perhaps they should’ve gotten suspicious
when Jesus interpreted the prophecies about Himself. Yet, they still seem
mystified, until they sit down at the table with Him. He blesses and breaks the
bread. Only then do they see Him for who He is, at which point He suddenly vanishes.
If we stopped right there, maybe we’d have a case for Jesus as only a figment
of the disciples’ imagination, but He appears to them once again to them in
verses 36–43 of this same gospel, which are not part of today’s reading. Jesus
even eats in front of them. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">All the gospels give this same testimony.
That is the message that the Apostles carried on and passed down. In the
reading from Acts, Peter testifies to David’s prophecy saying, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">[H]e foresaw and spoke of the
resurrection of the Messiah, that neither was he abandoned to the netherworld
nor did his flesh see corruption. God raised this Jesus; of this we are all
witnesses. Exalted at the right hand of God, he received the promise of the
holy Spirit from the Father and poured it forth, as you (both) see and hear.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Jesus’ body was not just resuscitated but transformed. If
Jesus had been merely resuscitated, He would’ve been in sorry shape as He
would’ve still born all of the wounds from His passion. The only marks that remained
were the wounds from the nails and the spear in His side. He ate and drank with
the faithful, continued to teach them and encourage them, until He finally
ascended to Heaven and promised to send the Holy Spirit.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In 1 Peter 1: 20 and 21, Peter again
testifies, “He was known before the foundation of the world but revealed in the
final time for you, who through him believe in God who raised him from the dead
and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.” This is echoed by
St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:14: “If Christ has not been raised, then our
preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.” If there was no bodily
resurrection, we would have no grounds for our faith.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">These are incredible claims, and we
believe in an incredible God. We also have this incredible gift of faith. But
what do we do with that faith? Is faith simply the content of what our Church
teaches, the doctrines, the dogmas, the moral guidelines? Or is there something
more? If all we do is believe, we’re missing out. James in his epistle writes, “You
believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">It's not enough to simply believe.
There’s more to our faith than mere belief. And James tells us what it is: “You
see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone…. [F]or as the body
apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Faith should enliven us and cause us
to act. John goes further in his first letter: “He who loves his brother abides
in the light, and in it, there is no cause for stumbling,” and again, “By this
we know love, that He laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our
lives for the brethren.” Faith should cause us to love, most especially to love
the One who loved us first, who gave His life for us, who gives us His very
flesh in the Eucharist. In short, faith is about a relationship with the one
who has given us everything.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In a few minutes, we will draw close
to Jesus and to each other in Holy Communion. This sacrament is one of the means
Jesus gave us to nourish us and enliven our faith and to manifest His presence
in us. And once we receive, we need to do something with that faith. We need to
take it with us and make it alive in the world through our words and actions. For
those who don’t believe, the best proof is a faith lived out loud.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Deacon Bill Burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11484509700642430451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16278999.post-35949661419093086412023-04-15T11:38:00.001-06:002023-04-15T11:38:33.394-06:00Exsultet (Easter Proclamation)<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqlQeSttdMqPg2Vy56qfnzzdJzXS18xvG5qZOy_Ef7Bu8hnGaUCl2hoJwAqnCxLf09uVDgl2R3_LAMwkPYiOVXsQ25ydvzkZ3zOW9CmHHBHwvwicGl7LyOHz6Jwax7f38xmQP1QGI3Ua6h_MRWUSDNV3d8dlkWGoiQ6QfpHcxt5Oga7LjhAw/s1200/24682-easter-vigiljpeg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="1200" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqlQeSttdMqPg2Vy56qfnzzdJzXS18xvG5qZOy_Ef7Bu8hnGaUCl2hoJwAqnCxLf09uVDgl2R3_LAMwkPYiOVXsQ25ydvzkZ3zOW9CmHHBHwvwicGl7LyOHz6Jwax7f38xmQP1QGI3Ua6h_MRWUSDNV3d8dlkWGoiQ6QfpHcxt5Oga7LjhAw/s320/24682-easter-vigiljpeg.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div><p></p>
<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/t6zyXbDZjug" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div>Deacon Bill Burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11484509700642430451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16278999.post-70478467286735317012023-03-11T20:04:00.015-07:002023-03-11T20:09:28.153-07:00Just Ask—Third Sunday of Lent (Cycle A)<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLUCi46I_1iSgVfsCxWgLOl172p6x_0O7Mkmnp4qkVZpSGQ74jn9Pstqut2fBeSYVktOWgxTtH0OGuT5Vjnl5pwT8BKK0F26lp7Xz8Rbpth3sigZ6tmIlr5LXWygAcIFkiaPNiVwlFxfiAYoBAbjJsSTxyIq5JUvtTAgWW4vfblcLIefb0uA/s2560/living_water_jesus_christ-scaled.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2128" data-original-width="2560" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLUCi46I_1iSgVfsCxWgLOl172p6x_0O7Mkmnp4qkVZpSGQ74jn9Pstqut2fBeSYVktOWgxTtH0OGuT5Vjnl5pwT8BKK0F26lp7Xz8Rbpth3sigZ6tmIlr5LXWygAcIFkiaPNiVwlFxfiAYoBAbjJsSTxyIq5JUvtTAgWW4vfblcLIefb0uA/s320/living_water_jesus_christ-scaled.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div></div><p><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Exodus 17:3–7; Romans 5:1–2, 5–8;</span> <span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">John 4:5–42</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">What would we do without water? Maybe
a better question to ask is what would we do without easy access to water? For
us here in the US, water is an afterthought. It’s piped directly into our
homes, and we rarely have to worry about whether it’s drinkable or not. That’s
not the case in many parts of the world, where having access to clean water is
sometimes nonexistent.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Water is so essential to our
existence, and it makes sense that the People of Israel were distressed about
it, about their thirst, and about ready access to water. And without
supernatural intervention, that makes complete sense. But notice whom they
complain about. It’s not God, who commanded Moses to lead them out of Egypt, but
about Moses himself, as if this were simply his whim: “Why did <b>you</b> ever
make us leave Egypt?” So they are blaming God’s servant for doing as he was
commanded by God. Consider that the Lord has delivered them from their
enslavement. Yet they’re still acting like slaves preparing to revolt. They haven’t
yet let go of the mindset of slaves. We’ll talk about that more later.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">St. Paul in Romans 5 talks about the
benefits we gain even in our sufferings. These aren’t worldly gains or profits
but those that we get through spiritual sacrifice. When we suffer and offer it
as a spiritual sacrifice, grace abounds all the more. This fact is especially
relevant to Lent. But even more, St. Paul notes that even while were still
sinners, Christ died for us to remove that enmity. Even at our worst, God still
loves and provides for us, much as He did for the People if Israel in the desert.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Our gospel reading is from John and relates
to the meeting between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well as Jesus
travels to Jerusalem. John makes a seemingly innocuous statement in 4:4: “He
had to pass through Samaria.” Samaria was the region between Galilee<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and Judah. But Jews and Samaritans were
bitter enemies. Why wouldn’t Jews take a safer route along the Jordan river? The
answer is that it was simply much faster and more direct. While they might not
have found much hospitality, they could cross to Judah and Jerusalem much
faster than if they had taken the route down the Jordan river.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">What’s the deal between the Jews and
the Samaritans? Are they all that different? Well, in many ways, no. We have to
go back to the history of the Hebrews who crossed the Jordan after the Exodus.
They settled by tribe in the lands they were allotted: ten tribes north of
Jerusalem, and two in the south. And after the exiles of the Northern Kingdom
in the 8<sup>th</sup> century and the Southern Kingdom in the 6<sup>th</sup>
century, the remnants were mostly the poorest Hebrews who worked the land. The
invaders moved people of their own cultures into the land, and naturally, they
intermarried. When the Jews (that is, the Judeans), returned, they were
suspicious of these inhabitants who went along with the invaders and accepted
the pagans into their midst, so much so that they wouldn’t even allow them to
help rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. So, the Samaritans stayed with the one
they had rebuilt on Mt. Gerizim, which incidentally is precisely where the Hebrews
received the blessings in the account from Deuteronomy 27.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Prior to Jesus’ arrival, the religious
practice of the Israelites was very diverse. There was not a single Hebrew
tradition: There were the Sadducees, who essentially controlled the temple. They
only accepted the first five books, the Torah of Pentateuch, as inspired
scripture. There were the Pharisees, who included the oral tradition, which is
how the Rabbis of the Jews interpreted the Pentateuch, and who also accepted
the prophets and other writings. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">The Pharisaic tradition would eventually
evolve into the Rabbinical tradition. There were also the Alexandrian Jews, who
were in the Jewish diaspora and used the Greek translation of scripture, the
Septuagint, which Catholics and Orthodox Christians use for the Hebrew (old) testament.
And then there are the Essenes, a sect that practiced ascetic disciplines and who
used a broader set of writings. In our New Testament, we see a lot that suggesst
that both the Alexandrian and Essene collections of scripture informed the New
Testament writers, and many scholars believe that both Jesus and John the
Baptist were influenced by the Essenes. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">So when we see this mention of a
Samaritan woman, keep in mind that the Samaritans are one of many offshoots of
Ancient Israeli religion. Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism are the two most prominent
modern forms, but there were many at the time in which Jesus lived, and the Samaritans,
Sadducees, and Essenes all feel into that category. The antipathy among them
had to do with their <i>doctrinal</i> and <i>political</i> divisions. But they
had a common root and shared a common scripture, the Torah.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Jesus encounters in Samaria a woman
who is fetching water from the well at noon. The time of day is significant, as
most of the village women would’ve fetched water in the cool of the morning
rather than the heat of the day. This hint should tell us something of the
status of the woman, that perhaps she was not welcome to interact with the
other women. Of course, we learn later why. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Jesus asks her to give him a drink.
She responds, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?”
That tells us something about the distinctiveness of the way that Jews and
Samaritans looked, most likely because they dressed differently. But Jesus seeks
to entice the Samaritan woman: “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying
to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and He would give you
living water.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">She hesitates and questions, and He
explains that He can give her living water that would quench her thirst and be
a spring of water that wells up to eternal life. Now He has her attention, and
she asks Him to give her this living water, despite the fact that Jews and Samaritans
are in enmity with each other. He has something she wants, and she can see that
He is willing to give it to her. Then, of course, we learn of her five husbands
and the reason for her social isolation. But the point is, the conversation has
opened her up to the gospel message, and she is responding freely to God’s
invitation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">When we look at the People of Israel
in the desert, we don’t see a people who are responding freely. We see a people
who are still living in a state of slavery, from which God has rescued them.
Despite the fact that they are now free, they act as if they are oppressed by the
One who has freed them. Like the Samaritan woman in Sychar, all they had to do
is ask for water, but they continued to live in an enslaved mindset. That time in
the desert in the giving of the law, all of that God gave to them in order to
free them from the mindset of the slavery they had endured in Egypt.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Now, of course, water in these passages
is not simply literal water. It represents something else that God freely gives
to us, which is the gift of grace. Grace is a Divine gift of God’s favor to us
that puts us in right relationship with Him. We receive it in the Sacrament of
Baptism, in which the image of water is repeatedly invoked through the
scriptures mentioned in the rite. But we also receive it in all of the
sacraments in various ways. In confirmation, we get the outflowing of grace
that seals us in the Holy Spirit and strengthens us to give Christian witness.
In the Eucharist, we receive grace through the nourishment of Jesus’ Body and Blood,
which strengthens and heals us, even removing the effects of venial sin. Through
the sacraments of penance and anointing, we receive bodily and spiritual
healing through this grace. In the Sacrament of Matrimony, we receive a special
grace that enables us to live out a life that is suitable for unity and for the
procreation and education of children, and that grace pays dividends because we
need that Divine assistance to be good partners. And finally, those of us who
receive the sacrament of Holy Orders, whether as priests, deacons, or bishops,
we receive grace to serve worthily in our offices and the strength to carry out
our vocation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">God’s grace overflows like that
living water, and it gives us the life He so wants us to have, a life in Him and
through Him. All we have to do is ask for it. Yet, sometimes, we’re like the
Hebrews in the desert. We complain that a life with God is too difficult, too
demanding. We question the gifts that He has graciously given to us—gifts of
our families, or work, and even sometimes the gift of our bodies. Sometimes we
treat these gifts as if they’re deserved, or maybe that something better is
deserved. We fail to see the good in the gifts, or we even fail to accept the
gift at all. When we turn our back on God, when we sin, that’s what we’re doing—rejecting
the gift of grace, that keeps us in union with God. We live with the mindset of
slaves—slaves to material success, slaves to sensuality, slaves to sin. We can
enslave ourselves with these things, or we can choose to accept the grace so
freely given.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Like the water we so desperately need
for our bodies to live, we desperately need this grace to be alive in Christ.
Jesus wants to give us this living water and to make it a well springing up to
eternal life. And all we need to do is ask for it.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEAabc2NcourEXKPLIQXhenVgsIMGPNOLBPBaGDywm4KECeVesdYUIjl-XLEvPjtv_FMiEJBPBo1iYnyXY_gVHfL035YtRIWqgHrBVisLq24ZKur8JF2-U0AqyC1Vzo5Pk0dmyGVZ_fq7jpqV0R0wWda8iM6HlQ0mG70sMEuGCfvvEWxQMDw/s2560/living_water_jesus_christ-scaled.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2128" data-original-width="2560" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEAabc2NcourEXKPLIQXhenVgsIMGPNOLBPBaGDywm4KECeVesdYUIjl-XLEvPjtv_FMiEJBPBo1iYnyXY_gVHfL035YtRIWqgHrBVisLq24ZKur8JF2-U0AqyC1Vzo5Pk0dmyGVZ_fq7jpqV0R0wWda8iM6HlQ0mG70sMEuGCfvvEWxQMDw/s320/living_water_jesus_christ-scaled.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Deacon Bill Burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11484509700642430451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16278999.post-25588658585830126062023-02-12T18:41:00.003-07:002023-02-12T18:41:22.557-07:00The Way of Life and the Way of Death—Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A)<p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg3sQ1_tN0-UDEFsJbWcRdHAN2mRK2ZBK4hum62ehZUPTeqDsjosKoFFnLJwZfZ1YdeR4db9dLlrdj0bzd4RKdtFxWHxxv4jhfM7Yc0oqotROXhEoiOc-HYFolx5Zo3Lz5VXIiHAgvIsjjOljI6qT4nKD0-rG2mh7wNfqqHxzOgAHrHxwQOng" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg3sQ1_tN0-UDEFsJbWcRdHAN2mRK2ZBK4hum62ehZUPTeqDsjosKoFFnLJwZfZ1YdeR4db9dLlrdj0bzd4RKdtFxWHxxv4jhfM7Yc0oqotROXhEoiOc-HYFolx5Zo3Lz5VXIiHAgvIsjjOljI6qT4nKD0-rG2mh7wNfqqHxzOgAHrHxwQOng" width="320" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal">Sirach 15:15–20; 1 Cor. 2:6–10; Matt. 5:17–37<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">I’ll start today with a simple proposition of Catholic
doctrine and go from there. There are four final realities, which the Church
calls the four last things: death, judgment, heaven, and hell. These are
inescapable realities which all of us will face at the end of our time. My
focus today is on the last of those realities.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Hell exists. It’s a reality. It’s a state of separation
from God, a barrier between the souls in that state and the God who created them.
Despite what some would like to believe, there are inhabitants of Hell. First
and foremost, the angels who rebelled against God are in Hell, because they
refused to submit to God’s plan for creation. But paragraph 1035 of the
Catechism teaches that the souls of those who die in the state of mortal sin
also go there. We don’t know who is there, but we have plenty of reasons to believe
that there are human souls who are there. So they are eternally separated from
God. How do they get there? They choose to be there.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Hell is a choice. Hell is a choice. It’s a choice
often resulting from a lifetime of choices, but a choice nonetheless. No one
goes to Hell against their free will. Those who go to Hell do so because they <i>choose</i>
Hell. They might not have understood what they were choosing, but through their
self-centered acts, those focused on their own desires and not on the will of God
<i>or</i> the good of their neighbors, they choose Hell. It can happen over a
lifetime, or it can happen in an instant, in a single act of the will in which
someone knowingly and intentionally turns their back on God.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">The greatest commandments that we are given are to love
the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our
neighbor as our self. Hell begins with self-absorption and preoccupation with
our own personal pleasure and satisfaction. If that’s our focus in life, we are
choosing to love ourselves. We are not choosing God or our neighbor to love. And
that is what takes us on the path to Hell. We care only for ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">In our lives and our decisions, we choose God or we
choose ourselves. If you <b>do not</b> <b>choose</b> God and <b>do not</b> <b>choose</b>
the good of your neighbor, God will let you have your way. <i>If you do not <b>choose</b>
God, God will let you have your way</i>. And your way directs you away from
communion with God (which is Heaven) to separation (which is Hell). Your choices
determine your path. We choose to go either to Hell or to Heaven, God simply
ratifies our decision.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">But here is the good news. God loves you and wants you
to be with him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">As rational beings, we have free will, which enables
us to accept proposals and to reject them. But understand this: God will not
condemn <b>anyone</b> who <b>chooses</b> Him. God will not forsake those,
flawed as they may be, who <b>sincerely</b> and <b>earnestly</b> desire to be
with Him. By proposing this, I am not saying that sin doesn't matter or that
God will not act justly and condemn some—perhaps many—of those who call
themselves Christians, and some—perhaps many—who are not. But God will not
condemn <i>anyone</i> who <i>chooses</i> Him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">What do I mean by that? How is it that Christians
might not be saved or that non-Christians might be saved? I would point to our
first reading from Sirach as a clue.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBlockText"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: HE;">He
has set before you fire and water: to whichever you choose, stretch out your
hand. Before a man are life and death, good and evil; whichever he chooses
shall be given to him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">This
passage is an allusion to one from Deuteronomy, Moses' final exhortation to the
People of Israel as they prepare to pass into the Promised Land<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBlockText"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: HE;">I have
set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that
you and your descendants may live, loving the <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span>
your God, obeying his voice, and cleaving to him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Notice
that the Promised Land is already theirs. All they have to do is grasp it. They
just need to make the right choice. There's no more searching and waiting. The
choice is right there before them. They just have to choose the blessing, and
that blessing resides in the words of the Law and the prophets, the two
greatest commandments.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now you would think that you could
look at two such clear choices—life or death—and know exactly which you would
choose, but human history demonstrates that we're really bad at this game. It
goes back to the very beginning. Adam is set down in a garden where all these
beautiful fruit trees and edible plants are, including the Tree of Life and the
Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God tells him, "You can eat from
anything in the garden except that tree right there— the Tree of the Knowledge
of Good and Evil."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It's right there next to the Tree of
Life! Yet even then, which one does mankind choose? Adam could eat from the
Tree of Life, which is not forbidden to him, but he chooses instead knowledge
of good and evil.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Such is the nature of mankind. Our
vision is obscured, so we don’t see the choice clearly. As St. Paul points out in
1 Corinthians, "We see indistinctly as through a mirror." If we can't
choose wisely from the obvious goods in front of us, we can’t choose what God
has prepared for us—the greatest good.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We live in a world that does its
best to muddy the moral waters and a culture that encourages relativistic moral
thinking. Nothing is black and white, just shades of gray. Not all moral
distinctions are easy to make, but some most certainly are, so long as we are <b>willing</b>
to see. That's really Jesus' point here in the Sermon on the Mount. He's
telling us that sometimes those gray areas we think exist between one choice
and another, morally speaking, are not gray at all. The law says that those who
commit murder are liable to the Law, but Jesus says anger at your brother,
calling him Raqa or fool makes you liable.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The law says not to commit adultery,
but Jesus says even looking at someone with lust is equal to adultery. If your
eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. If your hand, cut it off.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Jesus isn’t offering us shades of gray here. Instead,
he intensifies every law: not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a
letter of the Law will pass away, He says. If anyone sets the bar high for
righteousness, it's the King of Righteousness right here in this gospel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, fortunately, Jesus is speaking
hyperbolically. He's exaggerating in order to drive home His point. He knows
that we have difficulty seeing clearly, so He blows up the examples to the
point that no one can miss the message. Jesus doesn't mean that we should be
cutting off our errant hands and blinding ourselves for the least temptation.
He is telling us to be aware of the source of all sin: the mind and heart
because they drive the human will. The will is the immediate source of an act.
Any wrong act that is not motivated by will is simply an accident. But a wrong
act motivated by the will can be sinful. Sin is always a matter of will and of
choice. And our will is informed and motivated first and foremost by what
resides in our hearts and thoughts. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Jesus isn't saying that your eye in itself is sinful,
or that your hand is sinful. He's saying that when you hold something in your
mind and heart that can motivate your eye or your hand to sin, you are already
on the pathway. If you dwell on evil thoughts, you are giving them a chance to
grow into evil action. Jesus is telling the crowds and his disciples to go
beyond the letter of the law to its spirit. We can murder someone literally,
which most of us would never do, but we can also murder them in our thoughts,
in our hearts, or in our words. We might not commit adultery, but if we're
harboring lustful thoughts toward someone, we're already building the doorway
that lets us into that room. So at every moment, we need to be ready to resist,
and resistance is a choice. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">God will not condemn <b>anyone</b> who <b>chooses</b>
Him. God will not forsake those, flawed as they may be, who <b>sincerely</b>
and <b>earnestly</b> desire to be with Him. It is not enough to say simply
"believe in the Lord Jesus" or to simply "believe in God."
St. James says that the "demons believe—and tremble." If belief were
enough for salvation, then demons would have no reason to tremble.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">So belief alone is not enough. We must act on belief.
We must choose, because only in our choosing God do we demonstrate faith. Faith
is what enables me to choose the thing that draws me closer to God. Through
faith, I can understand that I do not see all matters clearly. I can grasp that
my notion of what is good for me is distorted. I can accept that my will might
not lead me to the greatest good, but God's will always does. So if I choose to
align my will with God's, I will be saved. If I choose to seek Him in
everything I do, I will be saved. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You
have the way of life and the way of death, blessing and curse before you, so
choose life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Deacon Bill Burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11484509700642430451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16278999.post-25016446525401297982023-01-15T11:49:00.006-07:002023-01-15T11:49:38.111-07:00Let's Stop Being Stupid—Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (Cycle A)<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEizZKHA9kyrFfIPiCiW1OvRQC0ESeQiASWtUPC1qIZ_cUZZKhlWP9DqNaNDhLyfOdWeGoxpldjcwxq9hL4N9lc-IUcYIhPwyI0KMJIdQ2gq0PIVehQlvxNLWeBcgUZkGuHbwOQG0z0zteCu37e-FgX8OK3Sd7ec_GUCkolOE4ybM5XvL1d7Zw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEizZKHA9kyrFfIPiCiW1OvRQC0ESeQiASWtUPC1qIZ_cUZZKhlWP9DqNaNDhLyfOdWeGoxpldjcwxq9hL4N9lc-IUcYIhPwyI0KMJIdQ2gq0PIVehQlvxNLWeBcgUZkGuHbwOQG0z0zteCu37e-FgX8OK3Sd7ec_GUCkolOE4ybM5XvL1d7Zw" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Isaiah 49:3, 5-6; 1 Corinthians 1:1-3; John 1:29-34</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Our first reading from Isaiah follows
several chapters of Isaiah’s promises of deliverance to King Hezekiah and the
words that the Lord has spoken about the Assyrian invaders. Now, the Lord
speaks directly to Isaiah and makes him a promise—that he will raise him up to
be a light to all nations, to restore not only Israel but all the nations. The
despair and disbelief that the tribes of Jacob had once exhibited were reversed
due to King Hezekiah’s faith and his prayers to the Lord. Isaiah communicates
Judah’s deliverance. And now the Lord says, “But wait, there’s more!” Isaiah is
not just a light to the tribes of Judah but to all nations. And his prophecies
are a light. They’re the most frequently cited prophecies in the New Testament,
and they all point to Jesus Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Like Isaiah, St. Paul is called to <i>be
an apostle</i> by the will of God. What is an apostle? One who is sent to
deliver a message, and in this case, a message of good news—evangelion. We
didn’t see the good news that Isaiah took to the tribes of Jacob, but that was
his mission as well. Isaiah was a pre-Christian apostle, one sent by God to be
a light to Israel and to the nations. There would be more lights: Jeremiah,
Ezekiel, Daniel, and many more. And then there would be those lights who
followed Christ Himself: the Apostles and St. Paul.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Paul’s first letter to the
Corinthians was just one of several epistles he wrote to that church—scholars
believe there were four in total but only two exist in our possession. Now
Paul’s letters—especially to the Corinthians—often followed this outline:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Grace and peace to you<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I thank God when I remember you<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Hold fast to the Gospel<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">For the love of everything holy, stop being stupid<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Oh, and Timothy says hi<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I have to credit the hive mind of the internet for that joke,
but it is spot on. And as it happens, his letters would not be the last to
follow this outline. Clement’s First Letter to the Corinthians follows the same
outline. St. Clement of Rome was the third successor to St. Peter as bishop of
Rome and one of the Apostolic Fathers. Definitely look him up if you’re
interested in what the early Church taught.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">St. Paul’s letters can sometime be
complex and difficult to understand, as even St. Peter acknowledges in 2 Peter
3:16. But in this introduction to First Corinthians, he is absolutely clear in
the expectation he sets for the Corinthians: “To the church of God that is in
Corinth, to you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy,
with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
their Lord and ours.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">St. Paul is saying, “You are
sanctified in Christ and called to be holy along with all who confess Jesus as
Lord.” And that’s my message to you. <i>You</i> are called to be holy. Holiness
is not a calling to clergy and religious alone. All of us are called to
holiness. So for the love of everything holy… let’s stop being stupid, and
start being holy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now, of
course, I’m just riffing on that internet meme, but we as the Church aren’t
stellar in how we pass on the faith. The latest polls on religion in the US
show a dramatic increase in people who identify themselves as “none” (having no
religious affiliation). The latest polls specifically on Catholics in the US show
that only a minority believe in the real presence of Jesus Christ in the
Eucharist. These failures are not because the information isn’t available.
These failures are due to the lack of lights shining. Evangelism isn’t just a
light for gentiles. It’s a light for those who have forgotten and for those who
have not been taught properly. Evangelism is the obligation of every Christian,
especially to nonbelievers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Are we being light to an unbelieving
world?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In our gospel
reading, we get another revelation of Christ to the world. Recall last Sunday
the Feast of the Epiphany, which was the revelation of Christ the King to the
Gentiles. And immediately on the heels of that Feast we celebrated the Feast of
the Baptism of Jesus, which was the revelation of Jesus to the Jews. All of
this we get within this period which the Church has long called Christmastide,
which extends from the Christmas Vigil until Candlemas, which we also call the
Feast of the Presentation. The whole Christmas season is a celebration of the
revelation of Christ to the world.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now, this
passage has a lot of information to unpack, but I want to note how John the
Baptist identifies Jesus: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of
the world.” To grasp what John is communicating here requires us to look at
other passages in scripture that use the figure of the lamb. First and
foremost, we can look to Exodus 12, where the Lord tells Moses and Aaron to
instruct the Hebrews to sacrifice a year-old male lamb and to take some of the
blood and put it on the lintels of their doors. This is the paschal lamb to
which Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians 5:7. Both of these images align with
Isaiah 53:7: “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his
mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter[.]” And while there are many
other parallels, I will leave you with this last from Revelation 5:7: “And
between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a
Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven
eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth[.]”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Wow. You
see, if you study scripture with a guide, if you pay attention to those
footnotes with all of the cross references, and if you read with an eye toward
recognizing the patterns and figures in scripture, you get a lot! It also
really helps if you study a little Greek and Hebrew so you can dig deeper. That
said, I know a lot of us don’t have the time, but we can benefit from the
knowledge of others, so seek out good bible studies, commentaries, and teachers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">So Jesus is the paschal lamb, which
is a sacrifice. Jesus’ paschal sacrifice is what the Church celebrates in the
Passion at the Sacred Triduum: Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil.
And a sacrifice not only has to die, it has to be eaten. Jesus becomes our
food, our sustenance, and we in turn become what we eat. We become through
communion the Body of Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And a sacrifice is nothing if it is
not also holy. Jesus is the summit of all holiness and the true light of the
nations. With the dawn of the light comes a call to follow after Him, just as
Jesus called His disciples to follow Him. What does it mean to follow Him? Does
it not also mean to become as He is? Just as our communion changes us, to
follow Him is to be changed into Him in some radical sense. And we do that by
becoming the light as he is the light.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">So I’ll ask you again, are we being
light in an unbelieving world? Are we radiating that love Jesus radiated to the
poor and hungry, the sinners and tax collectors? When we receive this
Eucharist, it should change us and make us more like Him, but do we do what He
did? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I must acknowledge that I am not
always radiating that light as He did. I’m not always being Jesus to my
neighbor, as much as I want to. But that’s what the call to follow means. We
have to take what we receive here and take it to those who otherwise will not
see and will not hear it. That is the mission of the Church, and that is the
mission into which each of us is baptized. We have to be a light to the nation
in which we find ourselves. <o:p></o:p></span></p>Deacon Bill Burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11484509700642430451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16278999.post-12843870312987642492022-12-10T18:37:00.005-07:002022-12-10T18:37:46.276-07:00The God of Reversals—Third Sunday of Advent (Cycle A)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEglf2PP9Xbnuj15JeFRcRd0ja_9Im2dNOYo7QVpRYccyimpDhyuC2zzOKzQTklqgUGpOHSv9RFt0cpqrf0yFyk8QeO8GDHDwfAptGp76B_pAIty4WzCL0ou2Fpi66rSiiPc31GJDKnK-oD0aaDg4t6wktCthO9tOhfHbrrU1QxEvs7Tj35nKQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1000" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEglf2PP9Xbnuj15JeFRcRd0ja_9Im2dNOYo7QVpRYccyimpDhyuC2zzOKzQTklqgUGpOHSv9RFt0cpqrf0yFyk8QeO8GDHDwfAptGp76B_pAIty4WzCL0ou2Fpi66rSiiPc31GJDKnK-oD0aaDg4t6wktCthO9tOhfHbrrU1QxEvs7Tj35nKQ" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Isaiah
35:1–6a, 10; James 5:7–10; Matthew 11:2–11<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> This third
Sunday of Advent is called Gaudete Sunday, from the Latin Introit for today's
Mass from Philippians 4: "Rejoice in the Lord always." We rejoice
because we anticipate the coming of our Savior. Advent is about anticipation.
We are waiting for the coming of Jesus, not once but twice. First, we await His
coming in human history, in the Incarnation. He who existed from the beginning
with the Father as God became incarnate and became a human being, at a singular
point of time in history.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Second, we await His final coming at
the final judgment. For both of these events we rejoice. It’s typical to see
these as two separate events. We have the Incarnation of the Son of God in the
world, and a few millennia later we have the Son of God coming on the clouds to
judge the nations, an event that we call the Parousia or the second coming. But
this isn’t how we reckon time in salvation history. Instead, how the Church and
the Jews before us reckoned such events was not as separate and disconnected
events but as a single continuous reality: not as individual events but as
instances connected by a single thread.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> The Passover
that the Jews celebrated has always been seen as a single event entered into
annually by the people of Israel, like time pausing while the people of Israel
return in the timelessness of eternity that is ever present in God’s mind. The
Eucharist is our own celebration, a fulfillment of the Passover and the <i>Todah</i>
(or thanksgiving) offerings in the temple, but now an eternal offering: one
that took place at the Last Supper, and which also takes place simultaneously here
on this altar and in eternity as the wedding feast of the Lamb.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Advent is
the same. We have two events separated by time, but the first is the precursor
to or initiation of the last. Christ's incarnation is necessarily joined to His
coming again. His coming into the world instigated a continuous process that
will be complete when He comes again. Advent is a period in which our spiritual
lives are in a kind of animated suspension: suspended between the incarnation
and the Parousia, the second coming. Our word Advent comes from the Latin
present participle adventus, which means “coming.” Jesus is coming now, and
Jesus is coming in the end. And we get to wrap our heads around how this is one
and same experience is symbolized by a great light coming in the darkness. This
is what the rose-colored candle on our Advent wreath represents today—the light
of dawn as it appears in the morning sky. Part of the joy of Advent is this
weird experience of being suspended in this state of light dawning in darkness,
the dawn of a new eternal day.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> The second
reading perhaps captures this sense of anticipation best. James writes to
believers in what he refers to as the “twelve tribes in the dispersion.” This
language is usually used to speak of the People of Israel, but James is
specifically addressing Jewish Christians in the diaspora, as many Christians
of the times were Jewish. He is telling them to be patient. They are
experiencing a time of trial, but the Judge is waiting and will soon come to set
things right. The prophets repeat this message constantly throughout the Old
Testament, and James is doing the same. Yes, times are bad, but God will change
it back. God will reverse our misfortune. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Jesus Christ is the God of reversals.
And our readings this week highlight this point. Our reading from Isaiah
proclaims, <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Here is your God; he comes with
vindication; with Divine recompense he comes to save you. Then the eyes of the
blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf will be cleared; then will the lame
leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Isaiah anticipates that the just Judge will reverse the injustice
and misery of the people. Recall that our first parents in Eden lived in
original <i>justice</i> and suffered from none of the maladies which the rest
of us do now… until the fall. They are deceived into thinking that God is
holding out, and they try to take matters into their own hands. Their
disobedience introduces suffering into the world. But even before they exit the
garden, God the Father has already pointed the way forward to a remedy, to His
vindication:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Then the LORD God said to the snake:
Because you have done this, cursed are you among all the animals, tame or wild;
On your belly you shall crawl, and dust you shall eat all the days of your
life. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I will put enmity between you and the
woman, and between your offspring and hers; They will strike at your head, while
you strike at their heel.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Even as God explains the consequences of their actions to
Adam and the Woman even as He explains the consequences to them, he announces that
there is a plan for reversing this calamity: the seed of the woman. <b>“<i>They</i></b>
will strike at your head.” Mother and son will both strike at the head of the
serpent. That is one interpretation, at least. Other translations say <i>he</i>
or <i>she</i>. Either way, God has a plan, and the Son is its fulfillment.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> These
reversals show up in small ways throughout Genesis and in the historical
writings: Hagar and Sarah, Leah and Rachel, Peninnah and Hannah. If you read
Hanna’s song in First Samuel 2, you might notice that it sounds an awful lot
like the Magnificat, Mary’s song in Luke 1:46–45: The beginning of Hannah’s
song is, <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">My heart rejoices in the Lord;<br />
My [a]horn is exalted in the Lord,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The beginning of the Magnificat is<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">My soul proclaims the greatness of
the Lord<br />
My spirit is exalted in my savior.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And then each repeats a very similar list of reversals in
fortune. Isaiah also picks up on the theme of reversals. He predicts that the
just judge will vindicate and save the people. And then he gives all the signs
of that vindication: the blind see; the deaf hear; the lame walk; and the mute
speak.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Remember,
all these ill effects are consequences of the disobedience of Adam and Ishah (</span><span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">אבה</span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span>)
which is the Hebrew word for <b>woman</b>, which is her original name—she
doesn't get the name Eve until after the incident. Everything that Isaiah
proposes is an undoing of the effects of our first parents’ disobedience.
Everything that Hannah and the Blessed Mother proclaim is an undoing of the
loss of <i>original justice</i>, which was the state of Adam and Eve before the
fall.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> John the
Baptist reflects the same hope, the same desire, when he sends his disciples to
ask Jesus if He is the one. I frankly wonder if John, who is in prison at this
point, is doing this for his own benefit or whether he is trying to nudge his
remaining disciples to follow Jesus. I suspect it’s the latter. And Jesus
responds by pointing to the reversals taking place in their midst: “The blind
regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead
are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.” All of the
reversals proclaimed by Isaiah and then some. He goes beyond all our hopes.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> All these
signs reiterate James’ message to the dispersion: Be patient. Our vindication
is coming. They are all signs of the hope of Israel, and signs that point
forward to our hope. Jesus is the God of reversals. He undoes the disobedience
of Adam; he unties the knot of original sin that binds us. He undoes the wound from
which we suffer collectively—our country, our community, and our world. He
alone undoes this collective suffering.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Here's your homework for the next two
weeks: what more does He need to reverse and unbind in your life? All of us
have those wounds, those weaknesses, those bad habits and attachments that
weigh us down and bind us to this world. What in your life does Jesus need to
unbind and reverse? Once you have identified those wounds, weaknesses, habits,
and attachments, take them to confession. It’s the best medicine for our
failings because absolution comes straight from the hands of Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> The hope of Advent
is to be released from our own failings, from our anxieties, from our sorrow. That
is the dawning light. Sometimes we can successfully paper over our brokenness,
hide it, and forget that it's there. We can fill our lives with noise, wealth,
parties, and busyness—but that ends. That leaves us in a short time, and the
emptiness is still there.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> But He can come
and unbind us. He can come and remove our brokenness. God has no intention of
letting us go, of letting us fail, of letting us remain in our brokenness. He
continues to carve out paths where we build walls. With every wall we throw up,
He provides a gate. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” He is
the dawn of the darkness we celebrate today.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="text-align: center;">
<br /></p>Deacon Bill Burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11484509700642430451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16278999.post-88960888114614738482022-10-09T12:04:00.002-06:002022-10-09T12:04:07.633-06:00Reconcile—28th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Cycle C)<p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiHfBOa-UAxDxAgL13GSJX_WzlNsa2u-84quruuguXS8LTkTG_nX9t670CbBSU7X22CA_Om-5Ty_wEuf9-r5kEEtHgIBCBmF_DH6JZNyVG0ClOuY2fM66LptqIKFIScPi6te2tcFawTBxGRj6iHDba1OaeVn5AqTSRXNUvo6kdUSahYy5ARcw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="669" data-original-width="699" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiHfBOa-UAxDxAgL13GSJX_WzlNsa2u-84quruuguXS8LTkTG_nX9t670CbBSU7X22CA_Om-5Ty_wEuf9-r5kEEtHgIBCBmF_DH6JZNyVG0ClOuY2fM66LptqIKFIScPi6te2tcFawTBxGRj6iHDba1OaeVn5AqTSRXNUvo6kdUSahYy5ARcw" width="251" /></a></p><p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">2 Kings
5:14–17; 2 Timothy 2:8–13; Luke 17:11–19</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Cleanliness
is next to Godliness.” You might’ve heard that adage before, but you might be
surprised who said it first. It’s not from scripture, and it’s not a particularly
Catholic sentiment. It was John Wesley, the founder of Wesleyan Methodism, who
said this in a homily back sometime in the 1700s. As I said, it’s not exactly
what the Church teaches, but it’s at least better than what American sage Glenn
Yarbrough of the Limeliters used to teach: “Clean mind, clean body, take your
pick.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But whether or
not cleanliness has any relationship with godliness, it has its benefits. It
feels good to be clean. It feels good after we've worked hard and we can go get
a shower. It feels good when we can take off our work clothes and change into
something clean. Cleanliness feels good. Gina tells me that my stepson Caleb
actually used to cry when he got messy, and we saw that son was like father
when our grandson ate his first birthday cake in the normal toddler fashion.
Then, looking at his hands completely covered with chocolate frosting, he burst
into tears. Like father, like son.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But sometimes
our need for cleansing goes beyond the superficial removal of dirt from the surface.
We need a miraculous intervention. In the passage from 2 Kings, Na'aman is
suffering from leprosy—a horrible and contagious affliction that made people
outcastes in their communities and often resulted in disfiguring lesions and
infections.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He hears of
a prophet in Samaria. He goes to this prophet Elisha, who tells him to go dip
himself in the Jordan seven times. Na'aman is not happy. He's thinking, "I
came all this way for you to tell me to take a bath in the Jordan?" But
with some prompting from his servant, he does it, and his leprosy is gone. His
skin is restored. Note that he is not merely healed—not with rough patches and
scars as someone who has been treated by a physician. His skin is restored like
that of an infant. This is proof to him that this God of Israel is worthy of
his gratitude and his worship. Now, back then, gods were thought to be tied to a
specific land. Na'aman wants to take some of Israel's soil back with him to
Syria so he can build an altar on it and continue to make thanksgiving
sacrifices to the God of Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In the
reading from the Gospel of Luke, ten lepers approach Jesus as He enters a
village. They cannot enter the village because of their affliction, but they
call to Jesus from a distance and beg for His mercy. Jesus freely gives it and
sends them to fulfill the requirements of the Jewish law so that they will be
readmitted into the community. Notice that Jesus tells them simply to do what
the law requires, and they trust Him and go, being cleansed on the way. That
much is simple enough. But one of the lepers realizes he has been healed. One grasps
that he is healed not just because Jesus sends them to the priests, but because
he <i>experiences</i> that he has been cleansed. And experiencing that renewal,
like Na'aman, he runs back and in gratitude falls at Jesus' feet. This man is a
Samaritan. And Na’aman isn’t exactly a friend of Israel either. He’s a Syrian—a
conqueror. He learns about Elisha from a slave taken from the land of the
Israelites. Essentially, they’re both traditional enemies of Israel. God heals
them nonetheless.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Notice here
sort of a reversal between the two readings. At first, Na'aman is appalled at
Elisha's command. How can dipping himself in the Jordan seven times cure him?
Yet it does. The mere action heals him, and he comes to belief. In the gospel,
the ten accept that if they follow the prescripts of the Law, the priests will
find them clean. The only one who returns to thank Jesus is one who is not
subject to the Law of Moses, a Samaritan. The Jews know what <i>the Law</i>
requires, but the Samaritan recognizes the Divine intervention in his healing. In
the reading from 2 Kings, Na'aman is reluctant to trust because the offer seems
too good to be true. In the Gospel, the ten lepers, minus the Samaritan, just
seem to think it's a simple matter of adherence to the form.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Both of
these extremes seem to be how many of us approach the Sacrament of
Reconciliation—that is, the Sacrament of Confession. On one side, some believe
that the action of confessing to a priest couldn't possibly actually cleanse us
of sin. Why do I have to confess to a priest? That's just a law of men. I
should be able to confess directly to God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>On the other
end of the spectrum are those who think that adherence to the law does all the
work. Some people seek the sacrament of reconciliation regularly, but they make
little attempt to remedy the source of their sinfulness—their sinful attitudes
and habits. They use the sacrament as a get-out-of-jail-free card rather than
as a sacrament of true reconciliation and healing—one that can draw us truly
closer to God.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Both of
these approaches to the Sacrament of Reconciliation are wrongheaded because
neither of them acknowledges the gratuitousness of God's gift to us—like
Na'aman and like the repentant leper. Forgiveness is pure gift! We can't
deserve it or earn it. That's why we use the term grace to describe God's
action in our lives. The word <i>Gratia</i> in Latin—which we translate as <i>grace</i>—is
God's favor to us, and He gives it freely.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now I want
to talk about the Sacrament of Reconciliation in more practical terms. I see
the lines in a number of churches locally on Saturday, and I'm happy to see
that they are busy. We often have enough people here at St. John's to keep two
priests busy from 3:00 to 4:30, which is our allotted time for the sacrament on
Saturdays, and we also offer it on Wednesdays after noon mass, and on first
Fridays after morning mass. But frankly, not enough of us take advantage of
this beautiful sacrament. And some of us fail to do so when we are obligated.
If we are conscious of a mortal sin on our souls, the Sacrament of Confession or
Reconciliation is an obligation before we present ourselves for communion. We must
be reconciled to God through confession. That is what the sacrament is
about—forgiveness of sins, yes, but also reconciliation with God and with each
other in the Church. You may not realize this, but spiritually, when you or I
sin, we harm the Body of Christ. All sin is communal. There is no private sin.
So our reconciliation is both with God and with each other.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>If you haven't
sought the Sacrament of Reconciliation recently, I encourage you to do so soon.
And if you haven't confessed in years, you can always make an appointment. If
you have a smart phone, you can download an app like <i>Laudate</i> which can help
you make a good examination of conscience. Remember, one of the precepts of the
Church is that we as Catholics will confess our sins at least once a year if we
have any serious sins on our conscience. If we have a serious sin on our
conscience, we should also not receive the Eucharist until we have confessed.
These are the teachings of the Church, and they're not meant as punishment but are
intended to bring us to healing and reconciliation, so that when we come to
this altar and offer ourselves with Christ, we will make a worthy offering.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Deacon Bill Burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11484509700642430451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16278999.post-25791549078369994002022-09-10T18:47:00.002-06:002022-09-10T18:47:32.531-06:00The Prodigal Father—24th Sunday for Ordinary Time (Cycle C)<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhU4kEthmy0ujIDX47nJpibEmojEz2n8APGkVhmm88P9M9N7Kp_fshkNUd-xH3p5HoTAplJ35m_XLlojpNXYXXO7VkF0H1pWeCEWj_F1wYs0DCa5_gKYR26fmIjrbuQ3_wx48F2KZuH3JF3TZ-5sHvlSCpilpZ7tg138kihUHCUOvjyLXFtrg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="959" data-original-width="1278" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhU4kEthmy0ujIDX47nJpibEmojEz2n8APGkVhmm88P9M9N7Kp_fshkNUd-xH3p5HoTAplJ35m_XLlojpNXYXXO7VkF0H1pWeCEWj_F1wYs0DCa5_gKYR26fmIjrbuQ3_wx48F2KZuH3JF3TZ-5sHvlSCpilpZ7tg138kihUHCUOvjyLXFtrg" width="320" /></a><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Exodus
32:7–11, 13–14; 1 Timothy 1:12–17; Luke 15:1–32</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I had a
rosary that was given to me by a friend who took up making rosaries after he
came into the Church. When I came back and was confirmed, he made this one for
me. I treasured it because of the love with which he made it, but unfortunately,
I lost it. It wasn't until about the time I was in diaconal formation that I
recognized the image on the center medal above the crucifix. I walked into the
parish office one day, back when it was in what is now the Riffle Center, and I
came face-to-face with a print in the reception area. I thought, "Wait,
that looks familiar." It was a print of the <i>Return of the Prodigal Son</i>
by Rembrandt. And that is the same image that was on the center medal of my
rosary. It was a fitting image for my rosary, as I was once as lost as the
prodigal son. That’s my story.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The reading
today from St. Paul's first letter to Timothy is a recognition of Paul’s own story,
and while he didn’t squander his patrimony like the younger son, his story
still bears a resemblance, but in reverse. He plays both parts in this letter.
First, he is the older brother judging the younger—the one who would persecute
the guilty rather than exercise mercy. Then he recognizes his own deep need for
God's mercy and becomes, in the same passage, the younger brother. I can also see
myself in both brothers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Now, some scripture scholars suggest that
the title of this parable we call the Prodigal Son is misnamed. Fr. Marie-Josef
Lagrange, a Spanish Dominican who was the founder of a school of scripture in
Jerusalem, said that the parable <i>should</i> be titled the Prodigal <i>Father</i>
because he is recklessly generous or prodigious with his love. Ultimately, this
gospel reading is about God's unrelenting mercy, His unwillingness to stop
seeking us—because that's really what's happening in our conversion. God is
pursuing us. We might think we're seeking Him first, but our impulse is always
because God compels us, and our effort is always a fraction of the effort of
God's as He tries to break through to us. The painting by Michelangelo, the
Creation of Adam, of God reaching out to Adam represents this so well! God is
stretching out to reach Adam, but Adam lounges and raises a limp hand in
response. I’ve also seen a parody of this image where Adam is looking at his
smart phone and raises his hand this way (finger pointing up indicating, “just
a sec”). If you have an opportunity to search on the original image, take note
of the gift that God has for Adam under His left arm. A hint—she is taken from
Adam’s side. God is reckless in His love for us. He loves us in abandon, always
seeks to call us back to Him, and wants to give us the greatest blessings.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Consider the first two parables from
the gospel today—how the shepherd and the woman in the house both go rather
overboard in response to finding the sheep or finding the coin. That's what
Jesus is saying to us: God's joy at bringing us back is so completely different
than how we expect Him to respond—that is, we and the Pharisees and scribes to
whom Jesus speaks. Why go out and risk your own safety to save a single sheep?
Why waste so much energy on a day’s wage? And why would you expect us to be
joyful about another who takes such trouble? They saw these small victories as
unimportant and inconsequential because of the human value of the items—not the
spiritual value. Maybe that sheep was an unblemished lamb that could be used to
make atonement at the temple? Maybe that lost denarius was what kept that
woman, perhaps a widow, from starvation? Or maybe she intended to use it for
someone poorer than her? Who would know that or include these factors in their
valuation? But, of course, God does. He alone understands what is at stake and
what people suffer or how they sacrifice.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Let's talk
about the lost son here a bit more in our parable. He asks his father to give
him what will come to him—his inheritance, which would usually only come to him
after the father's death. What is he saying to his father? In the extreme, he's
implying, "You are dead to me." He is throwing off the shackles of
his obligation to his father, and the <i>wealth</i> of his father is more
important to him than his <i>relationship</i> to his father. The father could
simply refuse, but that's not what the father does. Instead, he gives the son
what he desires. Why? Because his love for his son outweighs his desire for
what he justly deserves. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And when his
son returns and repents, the father welcomes him back joyously and generously,
holding nothing back. His son was lost but now he is found—dead but now alive. The
younger son has been looking in the wrong direction for fulfillment, but he has
come to the recognition that he is lost. That was me. That might've been you at
some point. And that is probably many of our children right now. They've
listened to the directives of the world, and it has pointed them in the wrong
direction. At some point, they may come to that realization that they are lost,
God willing. We pray that all of them will realize that.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What about
the sons’ motivations in this parable? We often think of our obligation to God
solely in terms of obedience and submission, and that often leads us astray.
First, let’s consider the younger son’s request: give me my share of the
inheritance. He’s not asking. He’s demanding. The father has every right to say
no and even to respond more harshly… <i>but he doesn’t</i>. He responds with
forbearance. He gives the son what he wants. Why does the son make this
request? Well, why do any young people take all they have and leave to do their
own thing? They often chafe under the discipline of their parents. They believe
themselves to be bound and enslaved by their parents’ expectations. So, in
leaving, he believes that he is throwing off the yoke of slavery. But he later
finds that his poor choices have led more completely to his enslavement.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What about
the other brother? When he complains to the father that he hasn’t even received
a goat in compensation to celebrate with his friends, he sees his relationship
with his father as servant rather than son and expects to be paid or rewarded
for his performance. Now, of course, he has lived off his father’s estate and benefited
from his father’s success. He doesn’t resent that. He resents the father’s generosity
that goes beyond reward for service. Both sons are in wrong relationship to
their father. Both see themselves in conflict or crossheads, seeking to gain
something that the father is reluctant or unwilling to give. But this isn’t the
father’s desire! The father loves his sons and would do everything for them.
But the feeling is not reciprocated. The sons’ understanding of relationship is
skewed and distorted, so they can’t see what the father really wants to give
them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And so it is
with our relationship with God. When we treat God as if He should give us gain
in exchange for our works, we’re workers, not sons and daughters. When we obey
out of fear rather than love, we’re slaves, not sons and daughters. Cornelius à
Lapide put it this way: “If we serve God and follow virtue in hope of worldly
gain, we are hirelings; if from fear, slaves; if from love, sons.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>God uses
every attempt He can to reach us. Often He uses means that put discord into our
lives, and other times by shocking us with His beauty. St. Augustine captured
this in his <i>Confessions</i> when he spoke of us own conversion in one of my
favorite and one of the most beautiful passages in western literature: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyTextIndent"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Late
have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You
were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In
my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were
with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they
had not been in you they would not have been at all. You called, you shouted,
and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my
blindness.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We create these walls—the ones that trap us in lives of
dissolution, the ones that land us in pig sties hungering for slop, the ones
that cause us to cling to hunks of metal rather than real relationship. And God
still tries to break through to us. That is that unrelenting mercy and
generosity of the Father to His children.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Tomorrow
marks the twenty-first anniversary of the 9/11 attack. For a brief time, our
country experienced a singular moment of unity. Whatever unity we had then has
long faded. And now we have the conflict in Ukraine and the unjust invasion of
Russia. While unjust aggression cannot go unanswered, we need to remember that
the ultimate solution to the conflict in our world is not in our actions and
works but in our trust and faith in the generous Father who calls us ever back
to Him. If all Catholics truly turned to Him and sought His will, the world
would be a much different place. Our hearts will be restless until we rest in
Him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Deacon Bill Burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11484509700642430451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16278999.post-63692021049861289612022-07-09T18:39:00.001-06:002022-07-09T18:39:17.300-06:00Your Neighbor as Yourself—Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Cycle C)<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhZ3GIsrxZkD_rxjYJgp59c4My2LHgE1qvwdiUniea0NbPnNg1wwTHaNltwddj56dO25kM5lMLtAbg6ggXh_2Yc8ACW8pmCQTLFehzhN_mzpRGmBVrSdJy0y943LL-YfybDtgwtlAWL0QfjTx14rvzy8-yuAdm4UfJoF4A_HAxd_n4FktI9hg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3450" data-original-width="4350" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhZ3GIsrxZkD_rxjYJgp59c4My2LHgE1qvwdiUniea0NbPnNg1wwTHaNltwddj56dO25kM5lMLtAbg6ggXh_2Yc8ACW8pmCQTLFehzhN_mzpRGmBVrSdJy0y943LL-YfybDtgwtlAWL0QfjTx14rvzy8-yuAdm4UfJoF4A_HAxd_n4FktI9hg" width="303" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Deut.
30:10–14; Col. 1:15–20; Luke 10:25–37</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">What does God expect from us? What
puts us in right relationship with God? When we talk about being right with
God, ultimately, that’s what we mean. But what does <i>being right</i> with God
entail? Jesus outlines the two fundamental principles that put us in right
relationship. Ultimately all commandments from our Lord come down to two: Love
the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; and love your
neighbor as yourself. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In the gospel reading today, a scribe
or scholar of the law asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus
asks Him what is written in the Law, and the scribe responds by paraphrasing Deuteronomy
6:4, a most cherished passage from Hebrew scripture called the Shema: </span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">"</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-language: HE;">Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God
is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with
all your soul, and with all your might.</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">" In Luke, the scribe says, "</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-language: HE;">You shall love
the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your
strength, and <b><i>with all your mind</i></b></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">." The scribe also adds to this commandment that
you must love, “your neighbor as yourself.” This part of his response comes not
from Deuteronomy but Leviticus 19:17-18, which commands us to love our neighbor
as ourself, and from Leviticus 19:33-34, which says that one must also love the
stranger in our midst as ourself. Your neighbor, then, <i>is the stranger in
your midst</i>. So if there is a litmus test for the people you love that
excludes the stranger among you, you are “loving your neighbor” in an un-biblical
way. Or you are simply not loving your neighbor.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In our first reading from Deuteronomy
30, Moses is pointing the People of Israel back to the book of the law and
entreating them to listen to the voice of the Lord and obey His commandments.
But this command is not just something in the written word: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-language: HE;">It is not in the
heavens, that you should say, 'Who will go up to the heavens to get it for us
and tell us of it, that we may do it?' Nor is it across the sea, that you
should say, 'Who will cross the sea to get it for us and tell us of it, that we
may do it?' No, it is something very near to you, in your mouth and in your
heart, to do it.</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The good that God wills of us is not a mystery. We recognize
it innately. In Catholic moral tradition, we have a name for this idea that the
law resides in our hearts: natural law. It's the foundation of Catholic moral
teaching. It's the reason why the Ten Commandments look so much like the moral
codes of other ancient civilizations.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And why this similarity exists is simple.
We all recognize the desire to be treated with compassion. We know the good
that we want to happen to us, and we reasonably expect others to treat us in
that spirit. We know the golden rule—do unto others as you would have them do unto
you. In the Talmuds, the two commentaries on the Torah, we usually see this proposed
in the negative: don’t do to others what would be odious to you. We recognize compassion
and malevolence, and our natural sense of justice gravitates toward compassion unless
punishment is warranted. So we shouldn’t do what we don’t want done to us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">At the same time, we are warring
against the perversity in our hearts that wants to deny others their rights or
wants to exalt our desires above the rights of others. Greed impels us to lay
claim to what belongs to someone else, or maybe we simply horde what we have
when others are in immediate need. Our insecurities can put us on the path of
injustice. It can take many forms, and one form is simply to withhold
assistance when we have a surplus. St. Basil the Great, one of the Cappadocian
Fathers, had this to say: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">When someone steals another's
clothes, we call them a thief. Should we not give the same name to one who
could clothe the naked and does not? The bread in your cupboard belongs to the
hungry; the coat unused in your closet belongs to the one who needs it; the
shoes rotting in your closet belong to the one who has no shoes; the money
which you hoard up belongs to the poor.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Now, I don’t think St. Basil is condemning anyone for
planning for the future. But he is indicting those who would allow others to
suffer want when they have the means to address it. That’s our theme today. Do
what’s right when you see it. Do what is just when it needs to be addressed.
You have the law written on your heart, so follow it!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The setting
for Jesus' parable in this gospel reading today underscores that fact. A man
coming down from Jerusalem is waylaid, beaten, robbed, and left for dead on the
road to Jericho—a notoriously dangerous stretch of road during that time. The
need to make the path of the Lord straight becomes all the clearer if you have
ever visited the Holy Land. There is no straight and easy path to Jerusalem.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Jesus tells us first that a priest
walks down the same road, and seeing the man left for dead, he crosses to the
other side to continue his journey. Then a Levite does the same. Some commentaries
make the case that the priest and Levite are on their way to Jerusalem to serve
in the temple and that they are trying to avoid the ritual impurity they'd
incur by touching a dead body, rendering them unable to fulfill their temple service.
However, it is more likely that they were coming down the road from Jerusalem,
not going up. And if you know anything about going to Jerusalem, you always go
up to it. Even today, for a Jewish person to go to Jerusalem is to make <i>aliya</i>—to
<i>go up</i> to Jerusalem. So the priest and Levite are most likely returning
from Jerusalem, and hence, not in jeopardy of missing their term of service.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Brant Pitre
in a commentary on this parable pointed out that one <i>mitzvah</i> or
commandment for a pious Jew was the obligation to bury the dead. The priest and
Levite did not know the state of the man in the road, whether he was alive or
dead. So to avoid the possible inconvenience of having to bury the dead, they
didn’t even check on his well being. Jesus is not highlighting the conflict
between one commandment and another but of simple neglect to perform what one
knows is just to anyone, friend or enemy, neighbor or stranger.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But what the
parable demonstrates is that mercy is not some lofty concept that we have to struggle
to grasp. It's right there in our hearts. We all know what mercy looks like. We
know what's right in many circumstances, but for whatever reason, like the
priest and Levite, we choose not to do it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Love your neighbor
as yourself. Make no mistake. This is not merely a suggestion or nice idea. It
is a commandment. And in fact it is not so far from us or so difficult. When
you love your neighbor, you will what is best for them. The easiest way to love
your neighbor is to pray for them. That is my challenge for you this week. Love
your neighbor and pray for them, and not just the neighbor you like. Love the
ones you find it hard to like, or the ones who like you least.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">There are days when we are like that traveler
beaten and left for dead on the road. We need a good Samaritan to come and
bandage us up. And there are days when we have the chance to be that good
Samaritan ourselves. Don’t shy away from that opportunity to do good, to do
unto others as you would have them do to you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Deacon Bill Burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11484509700642430451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16278999.post-69910363628187499182022-06-12T13:54:00.003-06:002022-06-12T13:54:46.293-06:00Undivided Unity—Most Holy Trinity (Cycle C)<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiILDNZQXumVtK3dz4HftDxHFmdNZXjHa4j4Cr0KjIlrwgFybh1Z6BlZUekg4egB7fCnecbchJKvoM-9A6QtGaRlCC63fOTn40BE1PLnNVgHYClUvzEp7n95rNzRh5NC5asEsE_ADQE3G7U6MdINwqiGLSCV--FSRjPe5VhZz-2k1-bvI7WVQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1139" data-original-width="885" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiILDNZQXumVtK3dz4HftDxHFmdNZXjHa4j4Cr0KjIlrwgFybh1Z6BlZUekg4egB7fCnecbchJKvoM-9A6QtGaRlCC63fOTn40BE1PLnNVgHYClUvzEp7n95rNzRh5NC5asEsE_ADQE3G7U6MdINwqiGLSCV--FSRjPe5VhZz-2k1-bvI7WVQ" width="186" /></a><br /><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Proverbs 8:22–31; Romans 5:1–1; John 16:12–15</span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">While we are now back in Ordinary
Time, we have several solemnities that we celebrate on the next two Sundays.
This weekend celebrates one of the greatest mystery of our Catholic faith, most
Holy Trinity—the dogma that posits that we worship one God in three Divine
Persons. It’s a headscratcher for us now, as it was the Christians of the third
and fourth centuries, and there were great controversies around this dogma
until all matters concerning the Trinity and Christ’s divinity were settled by
the sixth ecumenical council. The reason for prolonged development was simply
because there is no mention of a Trinity in the New Testament. The first use of
the term comes from Theophilus of Antioch in the second century, and the first
defense of the doctrine from Tertullian around the same time. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">That said, we get plenty of hints
of God’s pluralism, and these hints predate Christianity. We see hints of them
in the Torah and the prophets of Hebrew scripture. And we see them most clearly
expressed in the writings of the Apostles. The first reading from Proverbs
recapitulates the creation story from Genesis 1 in poetry. We can hear
allusions to both the Son and the Holy Spirit here: “[T]hen was I beside him as
his craftsman, and I was his delight day by day, playing before him all the
while, playing on the surface of his earth[.]” We can compare this to Genesis
1: <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoQuote" style="line-height: normal;">In the beginning, when God created
the heavens and the earth and the earth was without form or shape, with
darkness over the abyss and a mighty wind sweeping over the waters. Then God
said: Let there be light, and there was light. God saw that the light was good.
God then separated the light from the darkness.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now, our <i>New American Bible</i> translation doesn’t
really do this passage justice and doesn’t convey the meaning of the Hebrew at
all. In our reading, we have “a mighty wind.” The Hebrew word in this passage
uses the word <i>ruach</i> (<span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-font-size: 18.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">רוח</span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span>), which means breath or spirit. What’s more, this <i>breath</i>
or <i>spirit</i> is not simply wind, but the <i>Ruach Elohim</i>, the spirit or
breath of God, and yes, the Hebrew clearly states that this is the spirit or
breath of God, not just some wind. I won’t get on my soap box about the
superiority of the Revised Standard Version of the bible translation right now,
but you can see how the lectionary that we currently use doesn’t capture the
meaning of the Hebrew well at all. Anyway, this passage is the one that we
often point to concerning the Trinity, as it implicitly includes three
elements: Creator, Word, and Breath or Spirit. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> Our passage
from Proverbs evokes this very image: of the Holy Spirit playing on the surface
of the Earth. At the same time, it also calls to mind the Son, the Word, Who
was beside Him as His craftsman, through whom we live, and, move, and have our
being. So in this passage we can see, in nascent form, an allusion to the
Trinity, even though we have no physical manifestation of the Son or a
discernible person of the Holy Spirit yet. But still we have an allusion or
precursor to it in the Hebrew scriptures. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> I had the
blessing of being able to listen to Dr. John Bergsma this week, and I
specifically asked him about this notion of plurality in God that appears well
before the Christian era. He pointed me to Daniel 7:9–14, in which the Son of
Man comes before the Ancient of Days, and the prophet goes on to say: “And to
him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and
languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which
shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” The
service rendered here is in the context of ritual or devotion, so understand it
to be worship, not simply service. Notice the word “serve” in this passage. The
service rendered here is in the context of ritual or devotion, so understand it
to be worship, not simply service. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">But the overriding point here is
that there is more than one Person in question. We see many references in
scripture that suggest some kind of plurality in the unity of God. Even the
Hebrew word Elohim, although it is used mostly as a singular noun, the form is
plural, and in Genesis we see this dialogue among more than one person. So the
Hebrew scriptures reveal to us some sense of plurality in God, of more than one
person who is worshipped. There is one God, but somehow multiple entities
within this single Divinity. This baffles us because our concept of person
indicates individuality. Yet, we know individuals who aren’t persons: animals,
plants, inanimate objects. So this Trinity differs from those entities because
it is on in which a single entity involves a single Divine existence and
essence shared by three Divine persons. But a theology of this Divine family
was not yet developed. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">When we look at St. Paul’s theology
on grace, faith, and the gift of the Holy Spirit we get a better sense of this
unity of the three persons of the Trinity, especially in the Divine action. St.
Thomas Aquinas use the analogy of mind, intellect, and will to explain the
interior dynamics of the Trinity. God the Father is the Mind. The Son is the
Word or thought of the Mind. The Holy Spirit is the action or will of God most
commonly expressed as Love. In our reading from Romans, St. Paul uses this same
language: “[H]ope does not disappoint, because <i>the love of God has been
poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit</i> that has been given to
us.” But understand that all action of God is collaborative. It is undertaken
by the whole Trinity because it is the action of one Divine Essence and Will.
So while we attribute the action of Love to the Holy Spirit, it is still not
wrong to say that God is Love because all three persons share in the one Divine
Essence.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">This collaboration between Father,
Son, and Spirit is most recognizable in the Gospels, and in particular our
reading today. This passage from John’s Last Supper narrative is perhaps one of
the more theologically rich sections of the New Testament, as Jesus explains
the dynamics of the Trinity as it pertains to Him as the Word of the Father and
to the paraclete, the Holy Spirit, who will come to instruct the Apostles. Recall
that Jesus always says that He is giving only what the Father has given to Him.
Likewise, the Holy Spirit only gives that as well: “He will glorify me, because
he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the
Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is
mine and declare it to you.” All three Persons possess the same teaching, but
just as the Son is begotten from the Father, and the Holy Spirit processes from
Father and Son, the revelation originates with the Father and comes through the
Son to the Holy Spirit. So they share one Divine will and intellect but also
personally possess it. And reading these words, it is clear that we are dealing
with three distinct Persons, each who acts in concord with the others.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">It's one thing for us to understand
that the Trinity is a great mystery of the faith. It’s another thing to know
what to do with that information. We have some hints, though, and one comes
from our epistle reading. The example of the Trinity Itself is our instruction.
One of St. Augustine’s famous analogies of the Trinity (one mentioned by Fr. Mariusz
at the beginning of Mass) reflect the Holy Spirit as the Love between Father
and Son, which is so perfectly self-giving that it possesses the full Divinity
of God. And that love is what the Father pours out into our hearts. The image
most commonly given to us is the matrimonial love between spouses, which when
practiced with complete self giving in love, results in a new person. That is
really the answer for us. What we do with the example of the Trinity? We love.
We love each other as ourselves, we love our spouses with the self-giving love
that Jesus exemplified on that cross and on this altar. And we love God most of
all for His great goodness, through Whom and in Whom we live and move and have
our very being.</p>Deacon Bill Burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11484509700642430451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16278999.post-67860398142022550402022-05-01T19:46:00.004-06:002022-05-01T19:46:22.066-06:00Mercy on the Sea of Tiberias (John 21:1–19)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiHnNCpSPdvgsaA8lxHeq-Pu1Uv1NDmg_2DN-RcDVTmVflbnLG8zcv75rXJu2ZX_o7Ll7UhEVCfbSvIWsm7bIj0Wgw6VPxpBTlHKlqFwx9g0dE7oD4WkYa1-1c6a3ql0ey2W4u1REHVrRKpPmeMkZX4xLQAI460-hmmp9t-AOhQYBRrPGO_iw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="335" data-original-width="250" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiHnNCpSPdvgsaA8lxHeq-Pu1Uv1NDmg_2DN-RcDVTmVflbnLG8zcv75rXJu2ZX_o7Ll7UhEVCfbSvIWsm7bIj0Wgw6VPxpBTlHKlqFwx9g0dE7oD4WkYa1-1c6a3ql0ey2W4u1REHVrRKpPmeMkZX4xLQAI460-hmmp9t-AOhQYBRrPGO_iw" width="179" /></a></div><p>Today's gospel reading reminded me of the day of my ordination. If you haven't read that story, you can find it <a href="https://theocoid.blogspot.com/2013/10/weeping-and-laughing.html" target="_blank">here</a>. I will just retell one part of that story related to that day and to this gospel reading.</p><p>Commentators from the early Fathers to contemporary times often talk about the parallel between Simon Peter's three denials and Christ's three questions to Peter at the Sea of Iberias, the three questions being in a sense a reversal or an undoing of Simon Peter's denials. That has always been my understanding of the passage. It was brought home to me most forcefully on the day of my ordination. But to tell my story in a coherent fashion, I have to go back to before I had returned to the Church. If you've heard my reversion story, you've heard this chapter as well.</p><p>From age 12 and on, I started drifting away from the Church and from faith. That much is not hard to imagine given the dismal formation most of us had in the 70s and 80s. As I'm fond of saying, up to 1972, we learned the Baltimore catechism, the basic dogmas of the faith and the sacraments (including the time I put that knowledge into practice by <a href="https://theocoid.blogspot.com/2011/07/extraordinary-minister-of-baptism.html">baptizing two of my playmates)</a>. When 1972 came, out went the catechism and in came the felt and construction paper. We did arts and crafts for the remaining years up to 5th grade, when we moved off base and had a different catechist (a convert).</p><p>Anyway, by the time I got to Gonzaga U., I was a tepid Catholic. The progressive approach to faith and scripture there gave me a final shove out the door, and I feel away for many years, always searching for truth, and often in the wrong places. One of those "places" was in the New Age movement and in eastern mysticism (the latter of which sent me looking at the former). During that brief period, I took a job as a purchaser at the Blue Unicorn, a "metaphysical" gift and book shop (their description, not mine). During that time, I purchased gift items and supplies for various uses: tarot cards, crystals, jewelry with occultic connections, sage wands, New Age music, and such. The store itself also sold books on Wicca, esoteric spirituality, spiritualism, and the occult). It wasn't long before I began to see in some of the clients some patterns. Many of them were living in chatotic circumstances and were looking to find some means of control. But turned off by "organized" religion, they turned to forces they were misleadingly told they could control.</p><p>I eventually left that position, continued studying and grapling with questions, and wound up coming back to where I started, but people had better answers for me. They showed me a faith founded upon Jesus' words Himself, and faith steeped in ancient tradition—Sacred Tradition, and a faith that not only insisted upon its consonance with reason, but gave the western world the foundation for its rational and emirical framework. I returned and was confirmed.</p><p>Fast forward several years later. I completed a masters degree in theology and formation for the diaconate. After ordination, my family went to Smoky Mountain Pizza to celebrate. Here's where John 21 becomes relevant.</p><p>We had a nice dinner with my immediate family, my daughter and her mother, and my brother-in-law and his family. My brother-in-law and his family were the first to depart. I gave them a blessing as they prepared to leave. Then my daughter and her mother left. I gave them a blessing as they prepared to leave. And then my immediate family left, and I gave them a blessing. </p><p>We all got in our vehicles, and I started to leave and decided to go through the alley instead of the way to the street because the street was often garder to turn from. As I was driving down the alley, I recalled, "Oh, yes. I used to park back here <i>when this place was the Blue Unicorn</i>."</p><p>The restaurant where I had just given three blessings to my family members was also the place where I almost two decades earlier sold tarot cards, sage wands, and books on the occult to people. Where I had denied God in my actions years before, He saw fit to put me back there to undo my denials. That is my story of mercy from the Sea of Tiberias.</p>Deacon Bill Burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11484509700642430451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16278999.post-50859826325894256522022-04-03T11:41:00.001-06:002022-04-03T11:41:38.996-06:00I Desire Mercy, Not Sacrifice: Fifth Sunday of Lent (Cycle C)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgCnDLL5pCZymT0qFUYjaF02HvZQI64DlWbOQUFT4Np5gSsv3NOhdXuHjaQnNBOH-lvwgJuDF4pykuWoFn5Z5vTTecX8kyP5OTJEaNJkvZqGFFgSX3_XEZdrEk_GZSJg3YGZKZvP4UXBMDHx5DhDlNlo2fF0XzUgb15QZA9wdT9_U7oBXBs6A" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1800" height="107" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgCnDLL5pCZymT0qFUYjaF02HvZQI64DlWbOQUFT4Np5gSsv3NOhdXuHjaQnNBOH-lvwgJuDF4pykuWoFn5Z5vTTecX8kyP5OTJEaNJkvZqGFFgSX3_XEZdrEk_GZSJg3YGZKZvP4UXBMDHx5DhDlNlo2fF0XzUgb15QZA9wdT9_U7oBXBs6A" width="320" /></a></div><p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Isaiah 43:16–21; Philippians 3:8–14; John 8:1–11</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Have you
ever experienced despair—that sense that you have failed so badly that nothing
can redeem you? That the circumstances in which you find yourself, maybe through
no fault of your own, are inescapable? Despair is not like fear. With fear you
don’t know what will happen, but you don’t assume that you are abandoned and
alone. There may be some hope. Despair is that presumption that nothing can
save you. You are doomed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Following on
last week’s celebration, Laetare Sunday, I’m sure these words seem a bit
discordant. Last week we were talking about rejoicing in the coming joy, and
now I’m talking to you about despair. Why? I’m talking about despair because it
was the very reason that the Gospel took root and flourished. Our faith thrived
because those who despaired, who had no clear recourse to deliverance, suddenly
found a deliverer.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When the
people of Israel lived in bondage in Egypt, they found a deliverer in Moses,
who led them from Egypt carrying the wealth of that nation. When they feared
thirst and hunger, Moses brought about their sustenance. When they needed a
law, Moses, through God’s provenance, provided a law. But if you look at the
words of scripture, they still despaired at every point. They had no trust in
Moses or God. They put their faith in a molten calf before they trusted in the
true God who led them from captivity. Consider that. The thing they put their
faith in was a lump of gold that looked like a cow—maybe what we would these
days call a cash cow. But it was made of material that they could see. They had
faith in matter, not in spirit.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Notice that
whenever the people of Israel despair and turn away from God or when they
prosper and turn away from God, the result is much the same. When they reject
the gifts that should instill hope, they suffer. When they receive the gifts
but fail to recognize the giver, they might prosper for a time, but eventually they
suffer the consequences of their behavior. In either case, the problem is that
the people receiving the gifts either don’t recognize the giver or they don’t acknowledge
their dependence on Him. When those gifts are spiritual, their neglect and
rejection has a spiritual impact.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Our reading
from Isaiah describes the Hebrews’ exodus from Egypt and promises a new exodus.
This text comes from what scholars refer to as Second Isaiah, which occurs
during the Babylonian captivity. So an important thing to notice is that this
Isaiah cannot be the same Isaiah as the one prophesying to the Judean kings in
First Isaiah. They are spread out over 120 years, so Isaiah would have to be at
least that old when preaching of deliverance to the exiled Judeans. It helps to
keep in mind that the name Isaiah, pronounced <i>Yeshayahu</i> (</span><span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">יְשַׁעְיָהוּ</span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span>) in Hebrew, means “God saves.”
It is directly related to the names Yehoshua and Yeshua, which we see often
rendered as Joshua and Jesus. So Isaiah is more like a title or a role than a
name, or you could see it as a prophetic tradition.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>First Isaiah
spends a great deal of energy trying to convince the people of Judea to turn
back from their indolence, from their gluttony and indulgence, from their idolatry
and lack of reverence, and to give to God once again what is due to God—love
and worship. Their failure to do so and their trust in men and material things instead
of spiritual is what led them into captivity. And in Second Isaiah, the prophet
proclaims that a new exodus is at hand for those who will turn back to the Lord
who delivered them. Whether merited or not, God is going to once again lead the
Hebrews in exile out of bondage and to freedom, where they can be free to live
and free to serve Him again. Those two freedoms go together. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Do the exiled Hebrews deserve this
mercy? Remember that I mentioned that the reason for their exile is that they
failed to give God His due, what they owed Him as the giver of all gifts. Is
that just? Well, no. In my canon law studies, we spend a lot of time talking
about justice, and the standard definition is that justice is <i>giving to
others what they are due</i>. If you are not giving to someone what is due to
them, you are not treating them justly. You can look at scripture in all the
places where the Old Testament talks about not depriving someone of their wages
or their tunic for a day, and that is what it means. These things are due to
them, so you shall not deprive them of it. But the Jews had deprived God of
what He was due—love, faithfulness, and proper worship.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">So if justice is to give someone what
they are due, what is mercy? It is to give someone what is <i>not due to them</i>,
what they do not deserve. It is to look at the debt they owe and <i>to forgive
it</i>. If it were due to a thief to forgive their theft, the meaning of theft
would be nonsensical, and so would the notion of mercy. If it were due to a murderer
to forgive their act, the meaning of murder would be nonsensical, and so would
be the notions of mercy. We give crimes specific names and definitions because
they violate justice. To not call a crime by its name is an injustice because
it deprives victims of what is due to them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That brings
us to our gospel reading. We are all familiar with this reading from John. The
scribes and Pharisees bring a woman caught in adultery to Jesus. Others have
mentioned that they have not brought the guilty man as well, which is a
legitimate factor. In Mosaic Law, both would be subject to the same penalties,
so there is a suggestion that the scribes are applying this law <i>selectively</i>.
They are only bringing forward the woman to be condemned. That brings to my mind
all kinds of questions. How did they know how to find this woman in the very
act of adultery? How did they find her and not the other guilty party?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So they
bring the woman forward to be judged by Jesus and say that the Law of Moses commands
them to stone such women. And they leave out what the Law of Moses requires for
the men in such circumstances. They are focused solely on the justice that is
to be exercised on the woman, but not on the justice to be exercised on the
man. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">What does Jesus do? From the look of
it, He starts taking names. Many Church Fathers and scholars suggest that he is
writing the sins of those present in the dirt. I like to think that He is
simply taking names. He knows their sins and indiscretions. In short, He knows
their hypocrisy, so He lets them choose: justice or mercy? This wasn’t a new thing!
The book of Hosea uses the story of a harlot in relation to her husband as an allegory
for Israel’s relationship to God. Amid all of the abuse that Hosea experiences,
we get this explanation: “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice: and the
knowledge of God more than holocausts.” More than any sacrifice, God wants for
us to show mercy to others. That is a greater sacrifice than bullocks and new
lambs as mentioned in Isaiah 1:11.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This woman caught in adultery had no
reason to expect mercy. She was caught in the act. She knew the penalty. She
had no recourse to mercy. Yet mercy came to her, just as mercy came to the Hebrews
in Egypt, to the exiles in Babylon, and how it comes to us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We do not deserve God’s mercy, yet it
comes to us throughout salvation history. And it comes when we recognize that
we do not deserve it—when we accept it as God’s gift. As long as we resist the
gift or demand our right, we will never experience redemption. If we demand
what we are due, then justly we demand to be separated from God. That’s what it
means to be damned—to demand that we be given justice, even when we have not
given what done justice to God.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">To be redeemed is to recognize that
we are enslaved and bound by our own sinfulness and failings. If we don’t recognize
that, we are bound. We cannot recognize our need to be redeemed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I want to leave you with these words
from St. Alphonsus Liguori:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">If you wish to strengthen your
confidence in God still more, often recall the loving way in which He has acted
toward you, and how mercifully He has tried to bring you out of your sinful
life, to break your attachment to the things of earth and draw you to His love.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">God’s desire is to give us mercy, but we have to accept it
from Him and recognize it as a gift that we have not earned. Yet He gives it to
us nonetheless.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Deacon Bill Burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11484509700642430451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16278999.post-17025416248182656332022-03-20T12:32:00.007-06:002022-03-20T12:35:27.171-06:00Vaccine Mandates and Freedom of Conscience<p class="MsoNormal"><span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgsu3v29oH2SvF9XRxKwQHIeSSugbLPSkusKif7Mop0NhXRcgOX5NRp5CZQOZnN5WdGjq34XHDKMTXEoQ0gVRQyQbnWjMmRXML32HYt_GtLiIIxF-2MstPcUHAbc_ygP68nl5mY6BmWDrIBSy5uIbMvaErluWOfweyjabEM0gysHhbo5PnFVw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Vaccination" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1200" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgsu3v29oH2SvF9XRxKwQHIeSSugbLPSkusKif7Mop0NhXRcgOX5NRp5CZQOZnN5WdGjq34XHDKMTXEoQ0gVRQyQbnWjMmRXML32HYt_GtLiIIxF-2MstPcUHAbc_ygP68nl5mY6BmWDrIBSy5uIbMvaErluWOfweyjabEM0gysHhbo5PnFVw" width="320" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span>The current context of global pandemic has raised many
considerations around civil liberties, protections for individual conscience,
and the common good. Many people take it for granted that their constitutional
guarantees of freedom of conscience, religion, and thought are absolute and
unassailable. However, legal precedent demonstrates that this is not the case
in the United States or Canada and that case law consistently demonstrates that
the judiciary will permit override of personal liberties when there is a compelling
state interest. How can the state best approach this challenge while still
respecting freedom of conscience for its citizens?</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span> </span>In the thought of ethicists,
philosophers, and various Catholic institutions, freedom of conscience is
considered a fundamental right. In an article from the </span><i style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Foundation of
Economic Freedom</i><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">, Tim Hsiao writes that conscience must be recognized because
it is vital for people seeking to understand their obligations: “Thus, if we
have the rights to liberty and autonomy, then we must also have the right of
conscience.”</span>[1]<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> Concerning
the primacy of conscience in Catholic moral teaching, Edward J. Furton writes,
“We have a moral obligation to follow the light of conscience. Indeed this duty
is so fundamental that, even if one’s judgment is in error, conscience still
must remain our standard of conduct.”</span>[2]<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
The National Catholic Bioethics Center, in a statement released in July 2021
concerning vaccine mandates, states, “[T]here is no universal moral obligation
to accept or refuse them, and it should be a voluntary decision of the
individual.”</span>[3]<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> And
finally, the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith states in article 5 of
their note from December 21, 2020, “At the same time, practical reason makes
evident that vaccination is not, as a rule, a moral obligation and that,
therefore, it must be voluntary.”</span>[4]<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
But freedom of conscience does not and should not apply solely to religious
claims but to religious and non-religious claims equally.</span>[5]</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span> </span>During the COVID-19 pandemic, the
U.S. public and much of the world’s population have been subjected to mandates
and restrictions. While the guidance from official channels at the CDC and from
the presidential administrations has often demonstrated some confusion, in some
cases the messaging has been downright contradictory, even by the so-called medical
experts and scientists. News sources from the </span><i style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Washington Examiner</i><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> to the
</span><i style="text-indent: 0.5in;">New York Times</i><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">, as well as various local news outlets have commented on
the inconsistencies in messaging about the effectiveness of masks, lockdowns,
and social distancing. Add to this the unfortunately frequent flouting of mask
mandates by the various authorities and elites who have supported mask mandates.</span>[6]<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
As the confusion and skepticism about such mandates grow, resistance grows as
well. When the question of vaccination enters the picture, the conflict is thrown
into sharp relief.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span> </span>The
reasons for vaccine skepticism and avoidance are many. Some Catholics and other
Christians who are against abortion refuse the vaccines because of the use of
fetal cell lines derived from abortions in the 1970s for testing or manufacture
of these vaccines, this despite the approval of the use of such vaccines by the
CDF.[7]
Others might object to the coercion by civil authorities of the rights of
others and the disregard for freedom of conscience as well as the threat that
this poses to freedom of religion and bodily autonomy.[8]
However, not all vaccine hesitance stems from religious belief. Many people are
skeptical of the process used to develop these vaccines and the speed at which
they have been developed and approved for use. Nowhere is this more evident than
in the misinformation surrounding the use of mRNA vaccines produced by Moderna
and Pfizer-BioNTech, where fears of this new technology have run rampant. While
much of this misinformation has circulated among conservative social media and
news, vaccine hesitance and resistance cross racial and political boundaries.
Gary Bennett, Professor of Psychology, Neuroscience, Global Health, and
Medicine at Duke University mentioned resistance to vaccination among black
Americans in a Duke Research Blog post from 2021 and the mistrust that many
minorities have of institutions: “’It’s not just mistrust of the medical
system, it’s mistrust of institutions…. Tuskegee [still] looms large in the
minds of Black Americans.”[9]
Still others, scientists and healthcare workers included, have genuine concerns
about the safety of these rapidly produced vaccinations. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span> </span>While
many consider freedom of conscience to be sacrosanct, legal precedent aligns on
the side of upholding such mandates. As recently as 2011, the Supreme Court of
the United States (SCOTUS) ruled that mandatory vaccination is constitutional.[10]
In the landmark case <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Jacobson v.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts</i> (197 U.S 11), the court ruled in favor of
such mandates, decided in the wake of the smallpox pandemic at the turn of the
20<sup>th</sup> century.[11]
This precedent was cited in the 1922 decision <i>Zucht v. King</i> (260 U.S.
174, 176) and more recently by Chief Justice Roberts in 2020 in <i>South Bay
United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom</i> (140 S. Ct. 1613, 1613–14). The
judiciary has been consistent in upholding the legitimacy of mandatory vaccine
mandates. Beck cites more than two dozen such cases at state, district,
circuit, and supreme-court level.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"> [12]</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span> </span>Part of both the beauty and the
horror of the U.S. legal system is the complex overlap of jurisdiction in such
cases. Determining who has competence in a particular matter can be difficult,
particularly with Federal mandates. Already one such Federal mandate has been
overturned in a narrow ruling, in part because the Federal agency executing the
mandate (OSHA) was found to lack the legal capacity to execute the order.</span>[13]<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
In this instance, the mandate was contested </span><i style="text-indent: 0.5in;">by another Federal agency</i><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
(USPS). In Boston, a state appeals court blocked a mandate imposed on public
safety union workers.</span>[14]<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
In one of a series of negative rulings, the 5</span><sup style="text-indent: 0.5in;">th</sup><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> Circuit Court of
Appeals reversed a lower court’s decision in favor of the injunction on the
grounds that a private employer complying with the mandate </span><i style="text-indent: 0.5in;">did not give due
consideration</i><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> to medical and religious accommodations.</span>[15]<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
So while precedent and case law historically support vaccine mandates, their standing
at this time is by no means a settled matter. Why would this be the case? For
starters, the contexts vary widely. Smallpox had been known to humanity for
1500 years, and a safe and reliable vaccine had been in use since the 18</span><sup style="text-indent: 0.5in;">th</sup><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
century.</span>[16]<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> Covid-19,
on the other hand, was only discovered through the first infections of the
pandemic. It was not a known quantity, and there was no existing vaccine for
it. That fact alone makes it very unlike the smallpox virus and supplies sufficient
reason to allow for expect testing. While precedents favor vaccine mandates, proper
consideration was not being given to the unique circumstances of the pandemic
and </span><i style="text-indent: 0.5in;">how they differed</i><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> from previous pandemics. These mandates were being
applied too broadly and capriciously without full consideration of the
differences in the legal context.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span> </span>The circumstances around these
particular vaccines warrant more consideration and tolerance, and not everyone has
the same level of moral certainty. Given the misinformation, mistrust, and
obfuscation around the vaccines, their manufacture, their dangers, and their
effectiveness, conscientious decisions about healthcare are more difficult to
make, and reasonable people will come to different conclusions. As Hsiao writes
in his article, “For a decision to be responsible, it must (among other things)
proceed from a position of confidence. We must be convinced that what we are
doing is right.”</span>[17]<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> Without
good information about the vaccines, their harmful side effects, the morality
of their manufacture, and their effectiveness, many people cannot arrive at
positive certitude about whether receiving a vaccine is morally licit,
medically prudent, or otherwise acceptable. Coercion under such circumstances
is more likely to bring greater division. Particularly as the pandemic wanes
and majorities of people have already voluntarily received the vaccines,
coercing the remaining resistors seems overly authoritarian and
counterproductive. While future pandemics might warrant such actions, this one
no longer does. In times of heightened division, it also becomes more tempting
for people in authority to simply disregard the right to freedom of conscience
and impose their will in capricious and arbitrary ways. In a free society, that
temptation must be resisted it all costs. The freedom of conscience should be
given due consideration and respect.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<w:sdt docparttype="Bibliographies" docpartunique="t" id="-1626919000" sdtdocpart="t">
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Endnotes</h2><div><p class="Footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span> </span>[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
<span class="Smallcaps">T. Hsiao</span>, “Why Vaccine Mandates That Fail to Respect
the Right of Conscience Are Immoral,” in <i>Foundation for Economic Education</i>,
February 1, 2022,
https://fee.org/articles/why-vaccine-mandates-that-fail-to-respect-the-right-of-conscience-are-immoral
(February 18, 2022).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span> </span>[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
E. J. <span class="Smallcaps">Fulton</span>, “Vaccines and the right of conscience,” in <i>The
National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly</i>, Spring (2004), 54.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span> </span>[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
<span class="Smallcaps">National Catholic Bioethics Center</span>, “NCBC Statement
on COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates,” in <i>The National Catholic Bioethics Center</i>,
2 July 2021, https://www.ncbcenter.org/ncbc-news/vaccinemandatestatement (10
February 2022).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span> </span>[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
<span class="Smallcaps">Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith</span>, Note on
the morality of using some anti-Covid-19 vaccines, 21 December 2020,
https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/<br />
cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20201221_nota-vaccini-anticovid_en.html (18
February 2022).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span> </span>[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
<span class="Smallcaps">A. Giubilini, J. Savulescu, and D. Wilkinson</span>, “Which
Vaccine? The Cost of Religious Freedom in Vaccination Policy.” in <i>Springer
Journal of Bioethical Inquiry</i>, 23 December 2021,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8696246 (10 February 2022).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span> </span>[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
<span class="Smallcaps">A.B. Wang</span>, “Two Years into Pandemic, Politicians
Still Getting Tripped up over Coronavirus Restrictions,” in <i>Washington Post</i>,
7 February 2022,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/07/two-years-into-pandemic-politicians-still-getting-tripped-up-over-coronavirus-restrictions
(18 February 2022).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span> </span>[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
The dicastery also indicated that it is morally licit despite the use of these
fetal cell lines. See <span class="Smallcaps">Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith</span>, Note on the morality of using some anti-Covid-19 vaccines.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span> </span>[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
<span class="Smallcaps">Schrock, D</span>., “A Secular Sacrament: Why Mandates
Violate Liberty of Conscience and Enforce a New Religion;” in <i>Founders
Ministries</i>, 14 October 2021,
https://founders.org/2021/10/14/a-secular-sacrament-why-mandates-violate-liberty-of-conscience-and-enforce-a-new-religion
(8 February 2022).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span> </span>[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
<span class="Smallcaps">Livingston</span>, C., “Black Americans’ Vaccine Hesitancy
is Grounded in More Than Mistrust,” in <i>Duke Research Blog</i>, 8 April 2021,
https://researchblog.duke.edu/2021/04/08/black-americans-vaccine-hesitancy-is-grounded-by-more-than-mistrust
(18 February 2022).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span> </span>[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
<span class="Smallcaps">J. M. Beck</span>, “Not Breaking News: Mandatory Vaccination
Has Been Constitutional for Over a Century,” in <i>American Bar Association</i>,
28 October 2021,
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/litigation/committees/mass-torts/|articles/2021/winter2022-not-breaking-news-mandatory-vaccination-has-been-constitutional-for-over-a-century
(13 February 2022).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span><span> </span> </span>[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
<i>Ibid</i><span class="Smallcaps">.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span> </span>[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
<i>Ibid.</i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span> </span>[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
<span class="Smallcaps">E. Katz</span>, “Postal Service Off the Hook for
Vaccine-or-Test Mandate Following Supreme Court Ruling,” in <i>Government
Executive</i>, 13 January 2022,
https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2022/01/postal-service-hook-vaccine-or-test-mandate-following-supreme-court-ruling/360730
(19 February 2022). Note that this mandate is also supposed to apply to private
business with 100 or more employees. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span> </span>[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
<span class="Smallcaps">K. Deese</span>, “Boston Vaccine Mandate for Public Safety
Workers Blocked by State Court,” in <i>Washington Examiner</i>, 16 February
2022, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/court-blocks-boston-vaccine-mandate-safety-union-workers
(19 February 2022).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span> </span>[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
<span class="Smallcaps">D. Jordan</span>, et al, “Fifth Circuit Reverses Denial of
Preliminary Injunction in Vaccine Mandate Case,” in <i>Littler</i>, 18 February
2022, https://www.littler.com/publication-press/publication/fifth-circuit-reverses-denial-preliminary-injunction-vaccine-mandate
(19 February 2022).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Footnote"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span> </span>[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
<span class="Smallcaps">E. Belongia and A. Naleway</span>, “Smallpox Vaccine: The
Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” in <i>Clinical Medicine & Research</i>, vol.
1, no. 2 (2003), 87–88.<o:p></o:p></p>
<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%;"><span> </span>[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> T. <span class="Smallcaps">Hsiao</span>, “Why Vaccine
Mandates That Fail to Respect the Right of Conscience Are Immoral.”</span></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Bibliography</h2>
<p class="Entry"><a name="_Hlk96102306"><span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Beck, J. M.,</span></span><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"> “Not Breaking News: Mandatory Vaccination Has Been
Constitutional for Over a Century,” in <i>American Bar Association,</i> 28 October
2021,
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/litigation/committees/mass-torts/articles/2021/winter2022-not-breaking-news-mandatory-vaccination-has-been-constitutional-for-over-a-century
(13 February 2022).</span></a><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Entry"><span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Belongia, E. and A. Naleway</span></span><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">, “Smallpox <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Vaccine:The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” in <i>Clinical
Medicine & Research</i>, vol. 1, no. 2 (2003), 87-92.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Entry"><a name="_Hlk96090332"><span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith</span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk96090332;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;">, Note on the morality of
using some anti-Covid-19 vaccines, 21 December 2020, https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/<br />
cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20201221_nota-vaccini-anticovid_en.html (18
February 2022).</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Entry"><span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Deese, K.,</span></span> “Boston Vaccine
Mandate for Public Safety Workers Blocked by State Court,” in <i>Washington
Examiner</i>, 16 February 2022, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/<br />
news/court-blocks-boston-vaccine-mandate-safety-union-workers<span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></span>(19 February 2022).<span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-no-proof: yes;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Entry"><span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Furton, E. J.,</span></span><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"> “Vaccines and the right of conscience,” in <i>The
National Cathoic Bioethics Quarterly</i>, Spring (2004), 53-62.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Entry"><span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Giubilini, A., J. Savulescu, and D. Wilkinson.,</span></span><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"> “Which Vaccine? The Cost of Religious Freedom in
Vaccination Policy.” in <i>Springer Journal of Bioethical Inquiry,</i> 23 December
2021, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8696246 (10 February 2022).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Entry"><span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Hsiao, T.,</span></span> “Why Vaccine Mandates
That Fail to Respect the Right of Conscience Are Immoral,” in <i>Foundation
for Economic Education</i>, 1 February 2022, https://fee.org/articles/why-vaccine-mandates-that-fail-to-respect-the-right-of-conscience-are-immoral
(18 February 2022).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Entry"><span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Jordan</span></span>, <span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">D. </span></span>et
al, “Fifth Circuit Reverses Denial of Preliminary Injunction in Vaccine
Mandate Case,” in <i>Littler</i>, 18 February 2022, https://www.littler.com/publication-press/publication/<br />
fifth-circuit-reverses-denial-preliminary-injunction-vaccine-mandate (19
February 2022).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Entry"><span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Katz, E.,</span></span> “Postal Service Off
the Hook for Vaccine-or-Test Mandate Following Supreme Court Ruling,” in <i>Government
Executive</i>, 13 January 2022, https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2022/01/postal-service-hook-vaccine-or-test-mandate-following-supreme-court-ruling/360730
(19 February 2022).<span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Entry"><span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Kelly, E.P., and S.P.S. Rosenthanl.,</span></span><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"> “Legal Insights on Mandatory Flu Vaccinations,” in <i>North
East Journal of Legal Studies,</i> 25 (2011), 55-73.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Entry"><span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">King, J, and O.L.M. Ferraz.,</span></span><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"> “Legal, Constitutional, and Ethical Principles for
Mandatory Vaccination Requirements for Covid-19,” in <i>Lex-Atlas: Covid-19,</i>
1 November 2021, https://lexatlas-c19.org/vaccination-principles (13 February
2022).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Entry"><span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Laycock, D.,</span></span><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"> “What’s the law on vaccine exemptions? A religious
liberty expert explains,” in <i>The Conversation,</i> 15 September 2015,
https://theconversation.com/whats-the-law-on-vaccine-exemptions-a-religious-liberty-expert-explains-166934
(15 February 2022).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Entry"><a name="_Hlk96090131"><span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Livingston,
C., </span></span>“Black Americans’ Vaccine Hesitancy is Grounded in More Than
Mistrust,” in <i>Duke Research Blog</i>, 8 April 2021, https://researchblog.duke.edu/2021/04/08/black-americans-vaccine-hesitancy-is-grounded-by-more-than-mistrust
(18 February 2022).</a><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk96090131;"><span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="Entry"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk96090131;"><span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">National
Catholic Bioethics Center,</span></span><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"> “NCBC
Statement on COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates,” in <i>The National Catholic Bioethics
Center,</i> 2 July 2021, https://www.ncbcenter.org/ncbc-news/vaccinemandatestatement
(10 February 2022).</span></span><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Entry"><a name="_Hlk96095433"><span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Schrock, D.,
“</span></span>A Secular Sacrament: Why Mandates Violate Liberty of Conscience
and Enforce a New Religion;” in <i>Founders Ministries</i>, 14 October 2021, https://founders.org/2021/10/14/<br />
a-secular-sacrament-why-mandates-violate-liberty-of-conscience-and-enforce-a-new-religion
(8 February 2022)</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Entry"><span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">A.B. Wang</span></span>, “Two Years into
Pandemic, Politicians Still Getting Tripped up over Coronavirus Restrictions,”
in <i>Washington Post</i>, 7 February 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/<br />
politics/2022/02/07/two-years-into-pandemic-politicians-still-getting-tripped-up-over-coronavirus-restrictions
(18 February 2022).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Entry"><span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Young, A. R., M.A. Ortega, and C.B. Simonsen,</span></span><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"> “A Swing and a Miss: Right to Conscience Objections
to COVID-19 Vaccinations to Endure Until June 2022,” in <i>Seyfarth,</i> 2
November 2021,
https://www.seyfarth.com/news-insights/swing-and-a-miss-right-to-conscience-objections-to-covid-19-vaccinations-to-endure-until-june-2022.html
(13 February 2022).</span><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</w:sdt>
<p class="Entry" style="margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="Footnote"><a href="file:///C:/legacy_data/CANON_LAW/Institites%20of%20Law/Midterm%20paper/Vaccine_mandates_and%20freedom_of_conscience.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">T. Hsiao</span></span>, “Why Vaccine Mandates That Fail to Respect
the Right of Conscience Are Immoral,” in <i>Foundation for Economic Education</i>,
February 1, 2022,
https://fee.org/articles/why-vaccine-mandates-that-fail-to-respect-the-right-of-conscience-are-immoral
(February 18, 2022).<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="Footnote"><a href="file:///C:/legacy_data/CANON_LAW/Institites%20of%20Law/Midterm%20paper/Vaccine_mandates_and%20freedom_of_conscience.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
E. J. <span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Fulton</span></span>, “Vaccines and the right of conscience,” in <i>The
National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly</i>, Spring (2004), 54.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="Footnote"><a href="file:///C:/legacy_data/CANON_LAW/Institites%20of%20Law/Midterm%20paper/Vaccine_mandates_and%20freedom_of_conscience.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">National Catholic Bioethics Center</span></span>, “NCBC Statement
on COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates,” in <i>The National Catholic Bioethics Center</i>,
2 July 2021, https://www.ncbcenter.org/ncbc-news/vaccinemandatestatement (10
February 2022).<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="Footnote"><a href="file:///C:/legacy_data/CANON_LAW/Institites%20of%20Law/Midterm%20paper/Vaccine_mandates_and%20freedom_of_conscience.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith</span></span>, Note on
the morality of using some anti-Covid-19 vaccines, 21 December 2020,
https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/<br />
cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20201221_nota-vaccini-anticovid_en.html (18
February 2022).<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn5" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="Footnote"><a href="file:///C:/legacy_data/CANON_LAW/Institites%20of%20Law/Midterm%20paper/Vaccine_mandates_and%20freedom_of_conscience.docx#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">A. Giubilini, J. Savulescu, and D. Wilkinson</span></span>, “Which
Vaccine? The Cost of Religious Freedom in Vaccination Policy.” in <i>Springer
Journal of Bioethical Inquiry</i>, 23 December 2021,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8696246 (10 February 2022).<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn6" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="Footnote"><a href="file:///C:/legacy_data/CANON_LAW/Institites%20of%20Law/Midterm%20paper/Vaccine_mandates_and%20freedom_of_conscience.docx#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">A.B. Wang</span></span>, “Two Years into Pandemic, Politicians
Still Getting Tripped up over Coronavirus Restrictions,” in <i>Washington Post</i>,
7 February 2022,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/07/two-years-into-pandemic-politicians-still-getting-tripped-up-over-coronavirus-restrictions
(18 February 2022).<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn7" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="Footnote"><a href="file:///C:/legacy_data/CANON_LAW/Institites%20of%20Law/Midterm%20paper/Vaccine_mandates_and%20freedom_of_conscience.docx#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
The dicastery also indicated that it is morally licit despite the use of these
fetal cell lines. See <span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith</span></span>, Note on the morality of using some anti-Covid-19 vaccines.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn8" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="Footnote"><a href="file:///C:/legacy_data/CANON_LAW/Institites%20of%20Law/Midterm%20paper/Vaccine_mandates_and%20freedom_of_conscience.docx#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn8;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Schrock, D</span></span>., “A Secular Sacrament: Why Mandates
Violate Liberty of Conscience and Enforce a New Religion;” in <i>Founders
Ministries</i>, 14 October 2021,
https://founders.org/2021/10/14/a-secular-sacrament-why-mandates-violate-liberty-of-conscience-and-enforce-a-new-religion
(8 February 2022).<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn9" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="Footnote"><a href="file:///C:/legacy_data/CANON_LAW/Institites%20of%20Law/Midterm%20paper/Vaccine_mandates_and%20freedom_of_conscience.docx#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn9;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Livingston</span></span>, C., “Black Americans’ Vaccine Hesitancy
is Grounded in More Than Mistrust,” in <i>Duke Research Blog</i>, 8 April 2021,
https://researchblog.duke.edu/2021/04/08/black-americans-vaccine-hesitancy-is-grounded-by-more-than-mistrust
(18 February 2022).<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn10" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="Footnote"><a href="file:///C:/legacy_data/CANON_LAW/Institites%20of%20Law/Midterm%20paper/Vaccine_mandates_and%20freedom_of_conscience.docx#_ftnref10" name="_ftn10" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn10;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">J. M. Beck</span></span>, “Not Breaking News: Mandatory Vaccination
Has Been Constitutional for Over a Century,” in <i>American Bar Association</i>,
28 October 2021,
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/litigation/committees/mass-torts/|articles/2021/winter2022-not-breaking-news-mandatory-vaccination-has-been-constitutional-for-over-a-century
(13 February 2022).<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn11" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="Footnote"><a href="file:///C:/legacy_data/CANON_LAW/Institites%20of%20Law/Midterm%20paper/Vaccine_mandates_and%20freedom_of_conscience.docx#_ftnref11" name="_ftn11" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn11;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<i>Ibid</i><span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn12" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="Footnote"><a href="file:///C:/legacy_data/CANON_LAW/Institites%20of%20Law/Midterm%20paper/Vaccine_mandates_and%20freedom_of_conscience.docx#_ftnref12" name="_ftn12" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn12;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<i>Ibid.</i><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn13" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="Footnote"><a href="file:///C:/legacy_data/CANON_LAW/Institites%20of%20Law/Midterm%20paper/Vaccine_mandates_and%20freedom_of_conscience.docx#_ftnref13" name="_ftn13" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn13;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">E. Katz</span></span>, “Postal Service Off the Hook for
Vaccine-or-Test Mandate Following Supreme Court Ruling,” in <i>Government
Executive</i>, 13 January 2022,
https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2022/01/postal-service-hook-vaccine-or-test-mandate-following-supreme-court-ruling/360730
(19 February 2022). Note that this mandate is also supposed to apply to private
business with 100 or more employees. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn14" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="Footnote"><a href="file:///C:/legacy_data/CANON_LAW/Institites%20of%20Law/Midterm%20paper/Vaccine_mandates_and%20freedom_of_conscience.docx#_ftnref14" name="_ftn14" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn14;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">K. Deese</span></span>, “Boston Vaccine Mandate for Public Safety
Workers Blocked by State Court,” in <i>Washington Examiner</i>, 16 February
2022, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/court-blocks-boston-vaccine-mandate-safety-union-workers
(19 February 2022).<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn15" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="Footnote"><a href="file:///C:/legacy_data/CANON_LAW/Institites%20of%20Law/Midterm%20paper/Vaccine_mandates_and%20freedom_of_conscience.docx#_ftnref15" name="_ftn15" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn15;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">D. Jordan</span></span>, et al, “Fifth Circuit Reverses Denial of
Preliminary Injunction in Vaccine Mandate Case,” in <i>Littler</i>, 18 February
2022, https://www.littler.com/publication-press/publication/fifth-circuit-reverses-denial-preliminary-injunction-vaccine-mandate
(19 February 2022).<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn16" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="Footnote"><a href="file:///C:/legacy_data/CANON_LAW/Institites%20of%20Law/Midterm%20paper/Vaccine_mandates_and%20freedom_of_conscience.docx#_ftnref16" name="_ftn16" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn16;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">E. Belongia and A. Naleway</span></span>, “Smallpox Vaccine: The
Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” in <i>Clinical Medicine & Research</i>, vol.
1, no. 2 (2003), 87–88.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn17" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="Footnote"><a href="file:///C:/legacy_data/CANON_LAW/Institites%20of%20Law/Midterm%20paper/Vaccine_mandates_and%20freedom_of_conscience.docx#_ftnref17" name="_ftn17" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn17;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -0.25pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
T. <span class="Smallcaps"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Hsiao</span></span>, “Why Vaccine Mandates That Fail to Respect the
Right of Conscience Are Immoral.”<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>Deacon Bill Burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11484509700642430451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16278999.post-84443183768400450182022-01-09T12:40:00.008-07:002022-01-09T13:01:34.252-07:00Follow Me—Baptism of the Lord (Cycle C)div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvRPD6Q7G0FImWUySPq_1Nhv5aj3bINDjr05p_OZzOWjnjUDCcuk7GgDoQXLyV0Sg2liqaL33M8uX8XWX-SVv2mzcSpWOKyiFpjUp1grMDieZpeXRnk8naJa2SNXmNhmsViRft/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="604" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvRPD6Q7G0FImWUySPq_1Nhv5aj3bINDjr05p_OZzOWjnjUDCcuk7GgDoQXLyV0Sg2liqaL33M8uX8XWX-SVv2mzcSpWOKyiFpjUp1grMDieZpeXRnk8naJa2SNXmNhmsViRft/" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Isaiah 40:
1–5, 9–11; Titus 2:11–14, 3:4–7; Luke 3:15–16, 21–22<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">This weekend we celebrate another of
those pivotal moments in the gospel and in the revelation of Christ, the
baptism of Christ by John in the Jordan. At this moment, Jesus becomes manifest
to the whole world as the Lamb of God. Recall the first revelation to the
shepherds in the fields outside of Bethlehem, representing Jesus’ revelation to
the poor and outcast in Israel’s midst following the nativity. You must
understand that shepherds were essentially the lowest caste in Ancient Israeli
society, outside of tax collectors and prostitutes. No one trusted them or
valued them. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">His second revelation is to the wise
men from the gentiles, the other nations, and He accomplishes this through a
sign they would recognize, a star indicating His birth. This underscores a
couple of truths: first, that the other nations were also to be incorporated
into God’s people, otherwise revelation to them would’ve been meaningless;
second, that these other nations, while they did not worship the God of Israel,
may express in their faith some aspects of Divine truth. This is a doctrine of
our faith, pronounced in the encyclical <i>Nostra Aetate</i>, in which Pope Paul
VI wrote, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoQuote">Likewise, other religions found everywhere try to counter the
restlessness of the human heart, each in its own manner, by proposing
"ways," comprising teachings, rules of life, and sacred rites. The
Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions. She
regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those
precepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones
she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which
enlightens all men.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">So we should not be surprised that the magi from the east
could recognize the coming of the Messiah. Even St. Paul acknowledges this
recognition by the Greeks in their monument to an unknown God in Acts 17:23,
and Socrates himself eschewed the Greek pantheon for an unknown, transcendent,
creator God.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This week’s readings
celebrate the revelation of Christ to the people of Israel in an action that
was familiar to anyone who was an observant Jew—the act of ritual washing. They
used simple purification acts to represent <i>ritual</i> cleansing to allow
them to worship in the temple or engage in other rituals. The difference
between their ritual immersion (which is what the Greek word <i>baptizo</i>
represents) and our Christian baptism is an efficacious sign. John the
Baptist’s baptism was a ritual signifying repentance, but these baptisms were
merely symbolic. They did not have an effect but represented a conviction or
commitment on the part of the recipient. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now, there
is no problem with symbolic cleansing. Signs and symbols are good things. But
sacraments are not merely signs and symbols. Every one of the rituals that we
call sacraments have precursors in Ancient Hebrew religion or simply in human
history. The difference is that when Jesus Christ engages with any one of these
rituals, they become <i>sacramental</i>—they become <i>visible</i> signs that <i>He
institutes</i> which have the <i>invisible effect</i> of giving grace to us. So
Jesus uses signs with which all human history already recognizes and makes them
sacramental—channels of grace to us. God uses material things to wipe our slate
clean, to cleanse us from the stain of original sin, and to adopt us as His own
children; He bestows this life saving grace on us in such a simple, mundane
act—the act of bathing. So this day is a celebration of Jesus’ baptism, which
is the beginning of our baptism.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">In our gospel reading, John preaches
to those who have come to be baptized, among whom is Jesus, and he announces
that one is coming whose sandal thong John is not worthy to untie. He will
baptize with the Holy Spirit and power. Now, we know, of course, that Jesus has
no need of baptism. He’s free of sin. He’s the beloved Son of God, as
demonstrated when the Holy Spirit descends upon Him. In Matthew, John even
says, “I need to be baptized by you!” So why does He go to John for baptism?
Sacred Tradition tells us that through the action of His entering the Jordan
and His baptism, Jesus sanctifies the waters for our baptism. His baptism
prepares the waters for our baptism. And Jesus’ baptism is an example of our
own baptism. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Baptism is the sign of the new covenant
with the Word of God. The sign of the old covenant with Israel was
circumcision. All boys at eight days would be circumcised as a sign of the
relationship of the People of Israel to God. It was once customary to baptize
children on the eighth day after birth. St. Paul notes in Colossians 2:11 the
connection between circumcision and baptism and that in baptism we are buried
with Jesus and raised from death. In 1 Peter 3, Peter says very directly,
“Baptism now saves you.” It is not merely a sign of our sanctification; it begins
in us that process and joins us to the Body of Christ, and it removes from us
the stain of original sin—that flaw in our natures due to the failure of our ancestors
Adam and Eve.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But this
baptism is just a start. It is one of three sacraments that the Church together
call sacraments of initiation. So what are we starting when we are initiated
into Jesus’ Church? In His ministry, we hear one phrase repeatedly: follow me.
Follow me. So He allows Himself to be baptized as an example to follow, not
because He needs it, but because we do—we need to see Him and His works so we
can follow His example. So we follow Him and are baptized into His body. That
is the first step in discipleship, the first step in working with Jesus to
fulfill all righteousness.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What is the
next step in discipleship? No doubt we need to follow His example in other
things. He does the Father’s will, so we must do His father’s will. We follow
His commandments because they are the Word of the Father. We follow Him by
loving God with our heart, mind, soul, and strength and by loving our neighbors
as ourselves. We follow Him by doing in His memory what he commanded us to do,
here at this altar as we will in a few short minutes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And we have
to be changed by what we do. For all righteousness to be fulfilled, we have to
become righteous like Jesus. He came and assumed our human nature to transform
it. We have to love as He loves. We have to take His word out to the world. He
came to reveal Himself as the Word of God, but for all righteousness to be
fulfilled, <i>we</i> have to reveal <i>Him</i> as the Good News, the Word of
God come to earth for our salvation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And that is
what we are called to do—to preach the good news, to evangelize. The Church
exists to evangelize, which means you are commissioned to take the news of
Jesus with you when you leave here. Some of us will preach the good news in
words. Some of us will preach the good news through our actions. There are
people who will never set a foot through those doors to hear me and my brother
clergy preach. But they will encounter you. They will encounter me in the
workplace. What will they remember? Will they remember a spirit of judgment or
a spirit of love? You may be the only gospel they experience.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now I don’t
mean that you have to go out and proselytize. Pope emeritus Benedict XVI rejected
proselytizing and emphasized that the Church grows by attraction, just as Jesus
drew followers to Himself through attraction. Pope Francis has repeatedly talked
about the need for the Church to renew the spirit of evangelization. That is
our mission—to show the world who Jesus is, to be His hands and feet, to give
ourselves to others in our actions. In our baptism, we die and rise with Christ
and become one with Him. In that unity, we can take Him out and show His love
to the world.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Deacon Bill Burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11484509700642430451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16278999.post-81323978338712572712021-12-12T18:43:00.003-07:002021-12-12T18:43:23.548-07:00Gaudete! Third Sunday of Advent (Cycle C)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghiN8qaHmA1oGKJJHmwbqq3JIbTmNLoy3IEMoEoM0OIUabVFZhvREBVeLLpdDAK5jUpJHfsqLtos5tEpOMvEONBx8ZKG_tUSIKOpCC_Iozs44V1flavX2mACjfuIQOkDxonTFj/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1200" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghiN8qaHmA1oGKJJHmwbqq3JIbTmNLoy3IEMoEoM0OIUabVFZhvREBVeLLpdDAK5jUpJHfsqLtos5tEpOMvEONBx8ZKG_tUSIKOpCC_Iozs44V1flavX2mACjfuIQOkDxonTFj/" width="320" /></a></div><p>Zephaniah 3:14–18a; Philippians 4:4–7; Luke 3:10–18</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Today we
celebrate the third Sunday of Advent, which is called Gaudete Sunday, from the
Latin translation of Philippians 4. "Rejoice in the Lord always."
Always rejoice. We depart from the somber tone of this penitential season for a
bit to celebrate the light that is dawning on us. This Sunday is also the Feast
of Our Lady of Guadalupe. We had a procession led by our clergy with the statue
of our Lady this morning after the 10:00 mass. While we don’t celebrate the
feast day in our liturgy, we can still honor our Lady.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
readings today give us our marching orders for Advent and beyond. The Latin word
<i>adventus</i>, the source of our English term, indicates an approach or
onset. Advent is the onset of Christ's coming again. As our readings suggest,
it is a time of hope, of looking forward to a joyous event, but from the
perspective of people who are definitely not in a joyful place at the moment.
Often the expectation of the Messiah's coming dawns when His people are at
their lowest, when they feel bereft and oppressed.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Zephaniah
prophecies during the reign of Josiah, a time when the king is attempting to
bring the kingdom back from its fall into idolatry. The Assyrians have been
chipping away at the Kingdom of Judea and demanding their tribute, which always
means an oppressive tax on the people. All of these events are considered to be
the result of the sins of the People of Israel. But Zephaniah tells them that
God is letting go of that penalty and that they will be delivered from their
oppression. In the midst of their strife, they are called to rejoice in their
deliverance.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The letter
of St. Paul to the Philippians is much the same. Paul is writing from prison.
Paul wasn’t a popular figure in Philippi, at least not with those outside the
Church. If you remember the account in Acts, he expels a spirit from a slave
girl who is following him around and prophesying in a loud voice that Paul and
his companions served the Most High God. Her owners weren't too happy about
that because her prophecies were a source of income for them. So they beat Paul
and Silas and threw them into prison. Paul had his share of trouble in Philippi
for sure. But Paul tells the Philippians, whom he obviously loves, to be
joyful. He knows that all his tribulation has a purpose. We can choose to do
the same. We can obsesses about our trials, or we can rejoice because we know
the one who has overcome the world.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Some of us tend
not to dwell so much on where we are now but on where we've been in the past.
We beat ourselves up over past mistakes and sins. The crowds in our reading
from Luke today could be doing the same, but they don’t. Instead, they recognize
their need to change, and they ask the Baptist what to do. He gives them
concrete steps on the right path. First, he tells them to repent, and then he
gives them a path. Clothe the naked. Feed the hungry. Give what you have in
excess to the poor. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>These are
the steps to holiness. Do good for others. Love your enemies. Take care of the
poor in your midst. St. John Chrysostom said that "the poor are
physicians, and their hands are an ointment for your wounds." And if
you've ever worked with the truly poor, or if you've ever visited the sick, or
fed someone who was hungry, you've experienced it—that sense that what little
you've done helped <i>you</i> more than it helped <i>them</i> because it brought
you outside yourself to recognize Christ in the other. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">But the first step is to repent.
Turn from your sins and accept God’s mercy. Regardless of where you've been, your
sins are old news, and they are swept away. John is saying, "All of that
past stuff was true, but you are forgiven. Now go and leave all of that behind.
Go and sin no more." That is the message of Divine mercy, the good news.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And for me,
that is good news. I am a far different person now than I was in my young adult
life. I drifted away from the Catholic faith in my late teens, and I wandered
for a long time—about 20 years. I did plenty of things of which I'm not proud.
And I could go on carrying those failures as many of us do, but the call to
repentance is not a call to self-judgment and condemnation. In fact, to hold on
to our sins and doubt God’s mercy shows a lack of trust in God and, in a
strange way, a form of pride. The call to repentance is a call to recognition of
our failings and <i>conviction</i> to reject them. Then, ultimately, the call
to repentance is calling us to mercy, to forgiveness, and to healing. To
letting go and moving on. That's what Advent and Lent are all about—helping us
to recognize our brokenness; helping us to recognize our need for healing;
helping us to recognize our need for salvation. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For the
Israelites in our first reading, there were plenty of reasons for anxiety. If
we look around our world today, we can find many reasons to be fearful and
anxious: the pandemic, political division, the threat of violence here and war
elsewhere in the world. It’s harder to find civil conversation in a public
arena. We seem to have less and less of a shared culture and shared morality on
which to base our decisions. <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Our
world is more chaotic than ever, or at least than we remember in our lifetimes.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But every
era encounters these moments of chaos and doubt. Look at the letters of St.
Paul. Look at the words of the prophets like Zephaniah. The more things change,
the more they stay the same. We're not really seeing anything new. We're seeing
version 2021 of the same old thing. Which means we're still seeing the same
result of our fallen nature playing itself out. We're still seeing those same
human failings that we've always seen. We're still seeing the effects of sin
and the wounds they create in our lives and the lives of the people we love.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But we
still also encounter the effects of redemption in our world. We still encounter
those moments of grace individually and collectively. We have that moment of
grace when we set aside our own needs to take care of the homeless, or to visit
the sick, or to comfort others who are in pain. We have moments of beauty as
with the procession today, our Advent celebrations, and the joy of the season
to come. We have moments of grace, and we have to remember that the story is
not over. Advent is here to remind us of that. The man who came here and
suffered <i>that </i>defeat (point to the crucifix), has overcome the world.
And He is coming again on the clouds in power and glory to make an end of all
defeat. And He comes to this altar today to give us His body and blood and to make
us one.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And that is
why we rejoice.<o:p></o:p></p>Deacon Bill Burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11484509700642430451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16278999.post-26827800907316199122021-11-14T11:10:00.011-07:002021-11-14T11:22:49.148-07:00Two Paths, Your Choice: Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle B)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEire3Kgpc2aRpKcks_8FreZ0CmNVRlg0XeSc_1K7uGkDdDWPVmHPuI9EkagEa0XFbODacqAC3m9PrEaMUkSQkf4lOQYjh6g2j048ohJg1vpfOIjJvtYwWijB8QU75Mn7zChKmqQ/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1500" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEire3Kgpc2aRpKcks_8FreZ0CmNVRlg0XeSc_1K7uGkDdDWPVmHPuI9EkagEa0XFbODacqAC3m9PrEaMUkSQkf4lOQYjh6g2j048ohJg1vpfOIjJvtYwWijB8QU75Mn7zChKmqQ/" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Dan. 12:1–3;
Hebrews10:11–14, 18; Mark 13:24–32</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">We do not know the day. We do not
know the hour. But at some point, the Son of Man will come and usher in the end,
what we refer to as the Apocalypse.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">The last two years have certainly seemed
apocalyptic. First, we have the pandemic, which started to show up in December,
about the same time that Australia experienced horrific fires. The first spikes
of the pandemic really began to hit in January 2020. Then monstrous Asian hornets
showed up in the Pacific northwest. Here locally, we began to experience strong
earthquakes and aftershocks. And that was just what was happening in the
natural world. Then the death of George Floyd at the hands of police officers ignited
months of rioting and social unrest. It seemed like the fabric of our society
was coming apart… and in a sense, it still feels like that to a degree. So
whether these are the signs of the end times or not, we are reminded that we
need to be prepared now, not in some distant future.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Our readings today point to two final
outcomes: Heaven and Hell—being caught up with the elect of Christ, as we hear
in our Gospel reading, or residing in everlasting horror and disgrace, as the
Book of Daniel puts it. And we choose one or the other in the decisions we
make. That point bears repeating. In our decisions, we choose something that
draws us closer to God, or we choose something that takes us away from God and
that ultimately leads to Hell.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">I’m sure many of you are familiar
with the song <i>Stairway to Heaven</i> by Led Zeppelin. There’s a line in that
song, that goes like this: “Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the
long run, there’s still time to change the road you’re on.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">There’s still time to change the road
you’re on. That sounds like really bad advice to me. “No worries, you can
change your direction.” You’ve got time. But that’s not the advice we get from
Jesus. He says, “Repent! The kingdom of Heaven is at hand!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">We do not know the day. We do not
know the hour. But whenever it comes, we have already chosen one path or the
other. We need to be prepared for that second coming. In the Office of Readings
this morning, we had part of a homily from St. Augustine, in which he said, “Let
us not resist His first coming, so that we might not dread the second.” So we
need to prepare.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Jesus warns us in the Gospel of
Matthew. The gate is small and the road narrow that leads to life, but the path
is broad that leads to destruction. It’s fashionable these days to think that
everyone goes to Heaven and that God is too merciful to send people to Hell. To
a degree, they are correct. God wants all to be saved, as Paul says in the
first letter to Timothy. He desires all to be saved and to come to knowledge of
him. Yet scripture tell us of two ends, one for those who choose God’s will and
one for those who reject it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Our reading from Daniel contrasts the
two ends for us. Daniel is one of the early apocalyptic books of Hebrew
scripture, and it shares some common imagery with other apocalyptic writings
like Ezekiel, another book of the Hebrew prophets, and the Revelation of John,
much of it capturing the tribulation and cataclysm of the end days. The prophet
writes, “[I]t will be a time unsurpassed in distress since nations began until
that time.” The reading from Mark is even more dramatic and goes into more
detail: “[I]n those days after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and
the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see ‘the Son
of man coming in the clouds’ with great power and glory.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Jesus warns us to be prepared, to
live now as if the master is returning immediately. We do not know the day. We
do not know the hour.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Daniel spells it out clearly: “Many
of those who sleep in the dust shall awake; some shall live forever, others
shall be an everlasting horror and disgrace.” In Mark, the elect will be
gathered from the four winds.” The others will not be gathered. They will be
left clinging to those things they chose over God. We choose salvation or
damnation. We choose to seek God’s will or our own will. God simply confirms
our own choice. God doesn’t send the unrepentant to Hell. The unrepentant
choose it for themselves. So the choice is in our hands. We can choose to align
our will with God’s, or we can choose to focus on ourselves and cling to lesser
goods.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">So how do we know God’s will? We can
pray for wisdom in this area, for one. We should all spend some time in prayer
every day. Sometimes we think too much specifically of what God wills for us, and
we focus on those big life question grand plans. But in large, we do God’s will
by doing what He taught us through the Church and its doctrines every day.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">The Church has given us some guides
in how to choose God’s will. They are called works of mercy, and there are two
sets of seven: the <i>corporal</i> works of mercy, and the <i>spiritual</i>
works of mercy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">The corporal works are called <i>corporal</i>
because they deal with the needs of the body—in particular, other people’s
bodily needs. They are as follows:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Feed the hungry<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Give drink to the thirsty<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Clothe the naked<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Give shelter to the homeless<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Visit the sick<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Visit those who are in prison<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Bury the dead<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Recall in Matthew 25 when the Son divides the sheep and the
goats. Those things that the sheep did to the least of their brothers—feeding
and clothing them, caring for the sick, visiting those in prison—the Son says,
they did to Him. In a very real way, when we love our neighbor, we are showing
love for God, and we are most certainly doing God’s will.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">What are the spiritual works of
mercy? These are those works we do to attend to the spiritual needs of others:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Instruct the ignorant<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Counsel the doubtful<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Admonish the sinner<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Bear wrongs patiently<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Forgive offenses willingly<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Comfort the afflicted<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Pray for the living and the dead<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Some of these are hard, if not downright unpopular, to put
into practice. Sinners don’t like to be admonished. The ignorant don’t always
like to be instructed. But it’s not merciful to allow someone to die in their
sins. It’s not merciful to let the ignorant suffer from their ignorance. So
while our culture often tells us that such things are just bigotry and
judgmentalism, the Church calls it mercy. One great way to practice these
spiritual works of mercy is to share our faith, to share the reason we believe
what the Church teaches.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Jesus gave
us two commandments: love God with your whole heart, your mind, soul, and
strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. The most effective way to do
the first commandment is to practice the second commandment as well as we can.
When we choose others over ourselves, we choose God. When we choose ourselves
to the exclusion of others, we’re on our own. That’s what Hell is all about…
turning away from God and going our own way.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
Deuteronomy 30, Moses tells the people of Israel, “I have set before you life
and death, blessing and curse; therefore, choose life, that you and your
descendants shall live.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">God loves us and wants us to be with
Him. We do not know the day. We do not know the hour. But God has set before us
good and evil, life and death. Choose life. Choose God.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Deacon Bill Burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11484509700642430451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16278999.post-78104874344670272702021-10-10T12:07:00.005-06:002021-10-10T12:07:41.049-06:00Why a Professional Musician Found True Freedom in Catholicism | Catholic...<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/TUKGe0E8LGY" width="480"></iframe><div><br /></div><div>A few weeks ago, Jeff Miller (the Curt Jester) posted a video of an interview he did on his conversion. What caught my attention was that the person doing the interview was a recent arrival at our parish, <a href="https://www.eddietrask.com/media">Eddie Trask</a>. I followed up with Eddie and met over coffee to learn a bit more about his work and how he and his family wound up in Boise.</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, after sharing a bit about our faith journeys, he asked me if he could interview me and get my story. Some of stories I tell are posted here on the blog, but this is the nice condensed version of it.</div>Deacon Bill Burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11484509700642430451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16278999.post-68335694132935048622021-10-10T11:53:00.002-06:002021-10-10T11:53:30.340-06:00Wealth or Wisdom—Twenty-Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Cycle B)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAihz3gg9_mi-bj2-1ArYq4r2n4N6vfzGt4-OrVGxhJToHAgw0B1OHh2-RvkliszAqoKv6QTSdi5pwVZWpIYVZQQGjs3I0q0pH67YY9WCuuaH1I_TgZ9PC9SuHmcIVq6WLB0ba/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="746" data-original-width="1024" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAihz3gg9_mi-bj2-1ArYq4r2n4N6vfzGt4-OrVGxhJToHAgw0B1OHh2-RvkliszAqoKv6QTSdi5pwVZWpIYVZQQGjs3I0q0pH67YY9WCuuaH1I_TgZ9PC9SuHmcIVq6WLB0ba/" width="320" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wisdom 7:7–11; Hebrews 4:12–13; Mark 10:17–30<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">I recently took a
new position. This is actually the second job change for me in the course of
this pandemic. While the first one went very smoothly and quickly, this one has
not been as speedy or smooth. My background check was delayed, my start date
delayed, the arrival of my laptop delayed. And because everything is done in
the cloud these days, I couldn’t get my payroll and benefits set up on the
first day. It used to be that we went through this process with someone from
Human Resources. Those days are gone. So I experienced a fair bit of stress and
anxiety, wondering whether Gina and I would have medical coverage, whether I
would get paid on time, and so on.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">Now, I don’t want
to minimize anyone’s experience in similar circumstances, but more than once
during my concern and anxiety, I thought to myself, “Where is your faith? Why
are you grasping so much for these material things and so anxious about them?
Don’t you remember that God is in control and that He wants what’s best for
you?” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">Don’t I recognize
that? Don’t I see that I should be focused on higher things, not wealth or
control? Sometimes I do… usually when everything is going my way. And
sometimes… not so much. The weeks prior to actual onboarding are a great
example of my lack of faith.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">Our first reading
is from the book of Wisdom, or as it’s also called, the Wisdom of Solomon. You
might recall in 1 Kings 3:9 that Solomon asked God not for wealth, for long
life, or for power over his enemies, but for Wisdom. He recognized a greater
good, one that he desperately needed to govern the people of Israel. God was
pleased that He made this request, which was not for his own good but the people’s.
So God granted all of them: wisdom, wealth, long life, and power over his
enemies. And this reading confirms exactly what God said would happen!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">Beyond health and comeliness I
loved her, And I chose to have her rather than the light, because the splendor
of her never yields to sleep. Yet all good things together came to me in her
company, and countless riches at her hands[.]<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">We know from scripture that Solomon
made other decisions later that didn’t honor God and did not employ wisdom, but
when God offered to grant him his wish, Solomon chose what was best.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When
scripture speaks of the Wisdom of God, most commentaries identify this with the
Word of God, and for Christians, the Son of God. Both in Hebrew and in Greek,
the word for wisdom is feminine in gender, <i>Hochmah</i> (<span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">חוכמה</span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span>) in Hebrew and <i>Sophia</i> (<span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">σοφίας</span>). But grammatical gender is
not equivalent to biological sex, so there’s nothing wrong with identifying
Jesus with Wisdom mentioned in these early texts. Wisdom is also one of the
seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, along with understanding, counsel, fortitude,
knowledge, piety, and fear of God. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">When we speak of
Jesus as the Word of God, the logos, we are making a very similar statement, as
the word logos in Greek can be either a spoken word or a thought or concept. So
these words have an affinity to one another. In the letter to the Hebrews, the
anonymous author writes of the vibrance of the Word: <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">Indeed, the word of God is living
and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul
and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of
the heart.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No
creature is concealed from him, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes
of him to whom we must render an account.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">The Word itself is alive because it
is the revelation of the Living God, and the Word reveals not only Himself but
He reveals to us our selves. He opens our eyes to our own limitations.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Our
gospel reading is the well-known story of the rich young man. He runs eagerly
up to Jesus and says, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
The young man is wise enough to recognize what Jesus has to offer. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s always followed the commandments and
perhaps considers himself righteous. But Jesus sees into his soul and reveals
what really motivates the young man: ‘Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said
to him, “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to
(the) poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”’ The
young man goes away crestfallen at the thought of selling his many possessions
and giving to the poor. Jesus reveals to the young man what he really values.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What’s
more, He reveals what this man truly lacks, namely wisdom. The man can
recognize goodness in Jesus, but he lacks the wisdom to apply the proper values
to things. He clings to his possessions but gives up something much greater,
the greatest good Himself.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This
is so often how we operate as well, trading the eternal for what we can have
here and now. We lack the wisdom to entrust ourselves wholly to God and instead
put our trust in material things. We rely on our own abilities, on other
people, on things that don’t last. In our lack of wisdom we choose worldly things
that pass away over Heavenly things that don’t. Without wisdom, we don’t have
the perspective to assign the proper value to things.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We
need to open ourselves up to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to be endowed
with His gifts, to have proper knowledge, to have understanding, and to have
wisdom. We need to recognize that the things of this world are finite and to
hold onto them loosely, being ready to let go of anything that binds us and
holds us back from the love of God.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><o:p> </o:p></p>Deacon Bill Burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11484509700642430451noreply@blogger.com0