Which Person are You?

I love St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, our 2nd reading today. Paul encourages us to “not conform (ourselves) to this age but (to) be transformed by the renewal of (our) minds, that (we) may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.” In our faith we never settle for 2nd best but always strive for perfection, for holiness.

The striving for perfection is not only a Judeo-Christian principle, but a universal truth, part of the eternal and natural law. We are given this instinct to want to be good, to desire perfection and what is pleasing.

The Philosopher Aristotle in his work “Nicomethian Ethics” speaks on virtue and vice and what makes a man happy, and it is not fleeting happiness, but an inner happiness and peace which rests in the life of acquiring virtue.

People have been asking the question, “what is good,” since the beginning of time. The biblical answers to that question are simple and straightforward, “God is good,” “(goodness is) an in dwelling of the spirit,” “(good or goodness) is righteousness and truth,” and there are many other verses that refer to what is good or goodness, but they all have a central theme, they all deal with the virtues and God’s grace, obviously. These virtues are courage, temperance, fortitude, and prudence as well as faith, hope and love all of which are found in Scripture.

We must desire these virtues and do everything in our power to obtain them. As I said previously, acquiring the virtues is not something only Judeo-Christians are called to do, but it is a universal call from God, something innate in our nature. Getting back to our friend Aristotle, he understood this, and though not a Christian or a Jew, in his observations he discovered four kinds of men (people).

I. The Virtuous Man
II. The Continent Man
III. The Incontinent Man
IV. The Tyrant

The virtuous man is the perfect man in and that he has acquired all the virtues and lives them well. He has handed himself over to goodness and has become its (goodness) servant. The continent man is a good man who has acquired many virtues and for the most part lives them well with the exceptional fall into vice or sin. The incontinent man is a person who struggles between virtue and vice, he is sometimes good and sometimes evil – in varying degrees. This person needs more practice to build up good habits, for as you know bad habits usually die hard. The person finds themselves in a tug of war between good and evil. The tyrant is an evil man, a person who has given into the passions and all sorts of vice, he has became a slave to his own evil and that evil dictates all of his choices. He has become a prisoner and there is no happiness in him.

I think most people fall between two and three, while only Jesus and Mary were “virtuous,” their entire lives and the saints who at some point also became virtuous as their immediate entrance into heaven proves.

Aristotle was speaking a universal truth when it came to observing humanity and that a human being, the person in order to be happy and free must strive to become virtuous.

St. Paul in his letter to the Romans cannot stress this enough. “…Sin must not reign over your mortal bodies so that you obey their desires. And do not present the parts of your bodies to sin as weapons for wickedness, but present yourselves to God as raised from the dead to life and the parts of your bodies to God as weapons for righteousness. For sin is not to have any power over you, since you are not under the law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Of course not! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, although you were once slaves of sin, you have become obedient from the heart to the pattern of teaching to which you were entrusted. Freed from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness.” Rom.6:12-18.

Is St. Paul saying anything much different than Aristotle? In the sense that goodness and truth is a person and that person being Jesus Christ whom we can have a relationship with, yes in that sense they differ, but in the sense of what is good and right they are identical. They are identical because the truth is always the truth, whether it is discovered by an ancient Greek philosopher, a Christian Saint from Tarsus or you and I here at Holy Family. God speaks to all and has given us Himself, so much so that through the Eucharist He is within us and even in our very nature He is within us, as some would say the Divine spark.

The philosophical and theological lesson has been given, but its practical component is yet to come and it comes in the form of questions. To whom are you a slave of, a slave of righteousness (virtue) or a slave of sin (vice)? And of Aristotle’s four men which are you? Which of Aristotle’s men do you wish to be? The Christian response to this last question should be, “I want to be saint . . . I want to be a saint. Amen, Fr. John

Picture and quote above is that of Aristotle

History Lesson on the Keys to the Kingdom

The Church believes that Peter was the first pope and that his office was given to him by Christ Himself as we hear in today’s Gospel. “You are Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church . . . To you I give the keys to the Kingdom.”

From the very early Church the understanding that the Bishop of Rome was Peter’s successor is quite evident as we can see in the writings of the Church Fathers. 

Ambrose of Milan

"[Christ] made answer: ‘You are Peter, and upon this rock will I build my Church. . . .’ Could he not, then, strengthen the faith of the man to whom, acting on his own authority, he gave the kingdom, whom he called the rock, thereby declaring him to be the foundation of the Church [Matt. 16:18]?" (The Faith 4:5 [A.D. 379]). 

 Pope Damasus I

"Likewise it is decreed . . . that it ought to be announced that . . . the holy Roman Church has been placed at the forefront not by the conciliar decisions of other churches, but has received the primacy by the evangelic voice of our Lord and Savior, who says: ‘You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it; and I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven . . . ’ [Matt. 16:18–19]. The first see, therefore, is that of Peter the apostle, that of the Roman Church, which has neither stain nor blemish nor anything like it" (Decree of Damasus 3 [A.D. 382]). 

From an even earlier text of St. Irenaeus:

"But since it would be too long to enumerate in such a volume as this the succession of all the churches, we shall confound all those who, in whatever manner, whether through self-satisfaction or vainglory, or through blindness and wicked opinion, assemble other than where it is proper, by pointing out here the successions of the bishops of the greatest and most ancient church known to all, founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul, that church which has the tradition and the faith which comes down to us after having been announced to men by the apostles. With that church (Rome), because of its superior origin, all the churches must agree, that is, all the faithful in the whole world, and it is in her that the faithful everywhere have maintained the apostolic tradition" (Against Heresies 3:3:2 [A.D. 189]). 

I give you these three quotes as reference sources to the great teaching we have, that Peter and his successors have been entrusted with looking after the Church and steering her in the right path towards Jesus.

The office of pope, however, is not just an office based on authority, but one of service, as John Paul the Great would often refer to himself in his office as a, “Servant of servants.”  Pope Francis has taken up that motto in his own pontificate, making himself available to as many as possible.  He knows and understands that he is a son of the Church and that with his office comes great responsibility, preaching, governing, sanctifying, but he must also serve as did John Paul the Great and St. Peter and to do so with his whole life as his example, which will be his greatest preaching.

Pray for Pope Francis as he now holds the keys to the kingdom, and I am sure those keys are quite heavy sometimes, but with our prayers they will be a little lighter, lighter so that he can serve and serve well.  God bless you, FJ

Quotes are from Catholic Answers

Even the Scraps are Enough!

Something wonderful and extraordinary happens in today’s Gospel between the Canaanite woman and Jesus.  Her prayer is both spoken from the heart and a prayer that is rooted in perseverance.  Jesus shows incredible tenderness on His part, even though it seems that He is being rough or even rude.

The Canaanite woman is not a Jew, Jesus’ ministry first and foremost is to the Jewish people, though from time to time He extended that ministry to include foreigners as was the case with the Centurion and the Samaritan woman at the well, all three, including the Canaanite woman, show incredible faith and perseverance.  When she cries out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!  My daughter is tormented by a demon.”  Jesus makes no response, it seems as though He is ignoring her.  The woman does not give up and the Apostles fed up with her persistence ask Jesus to send her away.

But this woman, she’s not going anywhere.  Jesus tells her He has come for the people of Israel.  She continues to offer Him homage and cries out, “Lord, help me.”  Jesus in what seems a harsh reply tells her, “It is not right to take the food of the children and feed it to the dogs.”  The woman is witty and replies, “Even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.”  Wow, what a response.

Jesus’ response is not harsh, He is not referring to wild dogs or calling the woman an animal, He is referring to house pets, more like “puppies.”  The woman is willing to lower herself to that of a puppy because even the scraps that fall from Jesus will be enough for her.  Jesus is tender towards her because He shows His great love in and that He does not give up on her, but stays engaged in the prayer right along with her.  At the end He is moved because of her great humility and rewards her with, “O woman, great is your faith; let it be done to you as you wish.” 

The whole scene is a prayer.  It is a scene from scripture that should give us encouragement in our own prayers.  When we pray we usually pray set prayers, i.e. Our Fathers and Hail Mary’s.  Beautiful prayers indeed and they help us in our reflections on God, life, and holiness.  However, there are those prayers from the heart in which we like the Canaanite woman cry out, “Lord, help me.”

The question for us becomes, how do we handle it when God says, “no,” or if He says, “wait,” or if He remains silent?  At first Jesus says, “No” to this woman or at least it seems like a no.  Jesus being Divine knew the outcome before the conversation finished.  Yet, like a good parent would He does not close the discussion completely, He allows her to continue, maybe God desires the same of us, that we pour out our hearts to Him in prayer and that we do not give up so easily.  The answer from God maybe a “no” or “wait,” but it will never be “you can no longer talk to me” type of answer.  It is in that wrestling with God in conversation, which we call prayer that our faith is strengthened and blessed.

The woman was willing to eat scraps and that was enough for her, would it be enough for us.  Am I willing to eat the scraps that fall from the Master’s table or do I want more than scraps, do I expect and demand more, something to think about.  A final reflection for us is, how bad do we desire that Jesus tells us, “Great is your faith.”  That answer will only come when I am willing to sit at the Master’s feet and humble myself and that I do not quit, but keep asking for His blessings, because even if they are just the scraps, that will be enough.  Amen.

Not Just Peter, But All of Us!

Today’s Gospel story we have heard many times, Peter sinking into the water when he began to doubt and Jesus lifting him up preventing him from drowning.  The imagery is beautiful, of Jesus grabbing onto Peter’s hand keeping him from perishing.  That “truth” of Jesus rescuing Peter is true for all of us.

All of us began this Christian life at our baptism, some as infants, others later in life, but we all share two things in common, faith, but also human weakness.  That weakness takes many forms, it comes in doubt as it did for Peter that day he found himself sinking, it comes in the form of bad habits and sins.  Some of these sins taking hold of us, ones in which we wrap ourselves in, be it stubbornness, pride, anger, impatience, lust, gluttony, wrath, lies, gossip, alcohol and drugs of all sorts.  For others it could even be desperation, things have happened in their families, sickness, death and tragedy, all of which can shake the best person’s faith.

There have been moments in all our lives in which we walk on water, moments of great happiness, fulfillment, and faith, these can be the day two people get married, a child is born, reaching a great accomplishment, being ordained or consecrated in religious life, or in the simple little happy moments, such as being at dinner with friends or going to the ball game.  All these moments are when we walk on water.

Then our footing begins to give out and we start to drown.  The interesting thing in the Gospel is that Jesus did not let Peter drown; He reached down and saved him when he cried out.  Peter had the choice not to cry out, but no, he was a man of faith, even with all his weaknesses and even sins, he cries out, “Save me Lord.”  Without hesitation the Lord’s arm is there clutching Peter’s.

When we see pictures of this, Jesus clutching Peter’s arm, it’s not just Peter he grabs from the stormy waters, but it is all of us that Jesus grabs onto.  Isn't wonderful to know that whenever we cry out, “Lord save me,” that He does!

Every time I see art work depicting the scene of Jesus grabbing Peter’s arm it is an assurance to me that Jesus is also grabbing my arm and I often see myself in the picture and not just Peter.  I hope and pray that you can see yourselves in that picture as well. 

FJ

The Power of Story Telling

Over the last few weeks the Gospels have been parables, stories that Jesus uses to make a point or to make several points.  The stories themselves may not be true, i.e. they happened detail for detail, but the parables contain “truth.”  I do not want to speak to you today about any of the individual parables or stories but to rather focus on God as the master story teller and the story that He has unfolded for us since the creation of the world.

When we read the great story about creation, especially today it invokes many feelings.  There are those who have made science their religion, it is science that gives us all the answers, the facts, if you will.  There are others who take the story literally, when I say literally, I mean each and every word.  They believe that religion or faith in Scripture is the answer to all or the only answer.  Then there are those who understand story telling or dare I say the meaning of “myth.”

When we hear the word “myth,” what do we think of?  Today it has come to mean a false story, fiction, or even a fable.  The dictionary defines myth as, “a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events.”  A second definition is, “a widely held but false belief or idea.”  What is the best way to describe that we believe in myth or stories.

I am going to give way some spoilers here but I think they will help with our understanding of how myth or story telling is true and not false according to the spirit of truth and not so much to the letter of the law or in the details. Some years ago a great movie called, “The Life of Pi,” was released, a movie which did real well and received great praise by fans and critics alike.  The movie is a work of fiction.  The movie tells a story of a young Indian boy who becomes stranded at sea on a life boat along with a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena, and a Bengal tiger.  The hyena kills the zebra and the orangutan and eventually the Bengal tiger kills the hyena.  It comes down to the boy and the tiger, both survive.  When the boy is rescued he tells the insurance people of the boat that sank this story, the one with the animals.  The men do not believe it and demand he tells the truth of what happened!  So he tells them another story, one in which he makes it to the life boat along with the cook, his mother, and two others from the boat.  The cook kills the two others and the boy’s mom and eventually the boy kills the cook in order to survive.  This second story is the real one and the one that the insurance agents will bring back home.  At the end of the movie the Indian boy, now a man, asks the journalist who has come to document his story which story does he like better, the journalist tells him, “the one with the animals.”  The Indian man responds, “so too with God.”

The story with the animals is myth, it is not accurate to the letter, but it tells a truth and a deep one at that.  Another example is J.R.R. Tolkien’s work the Lord of the Rings.  Many if not almost everyone has either read the books or saw the movies or both realize that his work is fantasy, it is fiction, there is no middle earth or dwarves, elves, or orcs.  But the story tells a truth, it tells a truth about good and evil, of courage, perseverance, virtue, and even a parallel salvation history to that of the bible.

There is a scene in the movie, “The Hobbit,” when Gandalf the Wizard is trying to convince Bilbo to go on the adventure with the other dwarves by telling him a story of his great, great, great, grandfather Bullroarer Took who defeated the Goblin armies that invaded the Shire.  Bullroarer Took was the largest Hobbit ever and rode a horse and took off the chief Goblins head with one fell swoop sending it a hundred yards eventually landing in a hole.  The invasion was ended and the game of golf invented all at once.  Bilbo said to Gandalf, “I believe you made that up.”  Gandalf responds, “All good stories deserve some embellishment.”  The story of Bullroarer took is true in the world of the Hobbit, but Gandalf added some things but they didn’t mean that the entire story was false.

Another way to explain this is that we are all story tellers; we love to tell stories, of our families and friends, of the good old days.  We add to those stories, the traditions handed down in our families become larger than life, the stories in their essence are true, but analogies are added and even embellishment.

Could this be the case with the Scriptures?  We need some clarification here.  The Scriptures, both Old and New Testament contain many different forms of writing, i.e. poetry, songs and hymns, prophetic literature, e.g. Revelation, letters, books, reflections, and literal recording of events.  One has to know what type of literature is set before them.  You cannot read poetry as literal historical events just as you cannot take literal historical records and read them as poetry.

The Book of Genesis is a story.  How much of it is historically accurate I cannot say, it could very well be the same story as the “Life of Pi,” or even “The Lord of the Rings.”  Both stories tell a truth as does the Book of Genesis.  The Truth in the Book of Genesis is that there is a God, He created the world, we all come from the same parents, who somewhere along the line fell to sin, they could not redeem themselves, they would need God’s help, that’s it in a nut shell.  Some want to believe that the story is literal, but that can be disproven quite easily.  When you look at the light of certain stars in the night sky they are billions of miles away, that light would have taken 10,000 years to reach the earth, therefore the universe cannot be 6,000 years old as some claim.  On the other hand some would have us believe that Genesis is a myth in the sense of a lie, that it’s just a story someone made up and it’s a story to keep people in fear and intellectual chains.  They would also be mistaken as the story God is telling is true in the sense of Truth, just as all stories are.

I recommend that you watch a video on Lewis and Tolkien debating myths and lies on youtube, its acted out but it is done brilliantly, both men had great faith, Tolkien had a great influence on Lewis converting to Christianity and one of their great discussions was based on myths vs. lies, the meaning of storytelling.

We are all story tellers, maybe not as good as Tolkien or Lewis, but nevertheless we tell stories and we love hearing them, even Jesus told stories, almost all the time, for Him it was mostly in parables.  God Himself is the greatest story teller; it’s still the greatest selling book in all of history, the Bible.  I pray that you all will immerse yourselves in the greatest story ever told, from beginning to end, that when you read the story you will recognize the literature, but more importantly the “Truth” behind and in each every story.   But also to remember and this is important, you are all characters in the story, the story would not be complete without you. FJ

Good Ground For Hope

But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency, and with much lenience you govern us; for power, whenever you will, attends you.  And you taught your people, by these deeds, that those who are just must be kind; and you gave your children good ground for hope that you would permit repentance for their sins. 

What beautiful words in our first reading from the book of Wisdom, words that remind us that God is very merciful and always allows us to come back and ask for forgiveness.

I’ll share a story with you that will bring this to light.  Some years ago in a conversation with someone I asked, “If you were a priest and you had a penitent come to you to confession every week and repeated the same sin over and over again, each and every week. What would you do?”  He asked, “I need to know what type of sin.”  I realized then that I had a theologian in the making if front of me.  I said, “Really, it could be any sin, but for our purposes since there seems to be an unbelievable preoccupation in sexual sins in our time, let’s say the person has a sexual addiction, a serious one.”  I asked the person a second time, “What would you do?”  He responded, “I would withhold absolution until the penitent made some real effort to change, because obviously he is abusing the sacrament by using it as a way out of his sins.”

It is true a priest can withhold absolution if there is legitimate cause, i.e. the penitent was not contrite, made a mockery of the sacrament, or something to the like.  It should be rarely used, withholding absolution that is, since it turns the sacrament into power and fear, a power over the penitent and a fear of the sacrament.

God Himself judges with clemency as Scripture tells us, who is man to think he may set different standards?  The person asked me, “What would you do?”  I would grant absolution if they are contrite, it makes no difference how long the struggle has been, the penitent is fighting the good fight as St. Paul tells us the Christian life is, not a life free from sin, but a life that does not give up.

Think of how much God has been patient with us.  All of us repeat sins and all of us are allowed to ask for forgiveness, again, “you gave your children good ground for hope that you would permit repentance for their sins.”  It does not stipulate that it can only be once rather it leaves it open, the ability to ask for forgiveness, since God knows that in our weakness we fall.

It is true God desires that we never sin and we should have the same desire, to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect, but if we fall short we have someone that intercedes on our behalf, Jesus Christ, the Eternal High Priest who forgives seventy times seven, in a word, “ALWAYS!” 

FJ

Builders of the Church: Kepha et Paulos

Today we celebrate two great pillars in our Church. St. Paul is our greatest missionary and evangelizer and St. Peter is the first pope, if you will. Both men are martyrs; St. Paul was beheaded on Appian Way under the order of Nero and St. Peter was crucified upside down also under the order of Nero. Both men were so important to the early Church; it may not have survived without them. The amazing thing about both men is that they were quite different in personality, education, and even status. If someone were to venture a guess whom God would have chosen to be his pillars for the Church I wonder if any one of us would have chosen Peter and Paul.

Let’s take a look at both men and see who they were. St. Paul from what we know was from Tarsus, he was born a Jew but he was also a Roman citizen, scholars believe that was the case through his father. Later on Paul would use his citizenship to his advantage especially when he demanded that he be tried as a Roman citizen with full rights under the law, it bought him time, time to go to Rome and evangelize there while under house arrest.

Paul described himself as Hebrew, as a Pharisee, and one who advanced in Judaism beyond many of his peers. Paul was a very educated man, a scholar of the law and also very well respected among his peers. Paul never met Jesus during Jesus’ ministry, we are not even sure what Paul may have known about Jesus, but after the resurrection Paul knew enough in his mind that the newly formed Christians were a threat to Judaism. Paul was commissioned to investigate Christians and to bring them to justice and if need be to execution as heretics, as was the case when Paul took part in the execution of St. Stephen one of the first deacons of the Church.

When Paul was traveling to investigate more Christians on his way to Damascus, he received a Divine revelation from Jesus, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me, Paul asks, “Who are you Sir” From that conversation forward St. Paul would begin life as a Christian, a man who would give us almost half the New Testament, make three long missionary journeys and help shape Christianity forever.

St. Peter had a much different upbringing as he came from a family of fishermen (from Bethsaida) who were part of the working class and not well educated, though even the uneducated would have been familiar with their religious traditions and Scripture. From the accounts of his life we believe that Peter was a married man who had a family, especially since the Gospels tell us that Jesus cured his mother-in-law. Peter had his name changed, originally he was Simon, but in Matthew 16:16-19 Peter becomes the first of the Apostles (Bishops) when Jesus calls him, “Rock,” i.e. Peter.

It is amazing that Jesus would have chosen an uneducated fisherman from Bethsaida to be the first pope for all intents and purposes. Peter was one of those guys who spoke before he would think and this got him into trouble quite a few times, especially when Jesus rebuked him by saying, “Get behind me Satan.”

Nevertheless, Peter’s witness in Jerusalem, Antioch, and eventually Rome helped to shape the early Church and give it life. I am sure that Peter had to deal with a great deal amount of change in his life that of his own religious customs to adapting to foreign regions in which he lived. Like Paul, Peter offered the final and greatest witness to Jesus by offering his life in the faith.

No one could guess that a man who was having Christians brought to trial and executed along with a poor fisherman would be the ones chosen by God to lead His people. They were ordinary men, but they had extraordinary hearts filled with love for their brothers and sisters. You and I are ordinary people, but like Peter and Paul we too have been chosen for some reason\s to carry out the Gospel. Do not sell yourselves short, we too can be like Peter and Paul, saints. God can take the most ordinary of us and make us extraordinary; it’s a matter of belief. Paul believed it and so did Peter, the question that remains is, “Do you believe it?”

PS. I did a play on words in the title, "Kepha" is the Aramaic translation for "Peter," "et" is the Latin translation for "and"

"Paulos" is the Greek Translation for "Paul"  I chose Aramaic, Latin, and Greek to cover the languages of the Church, I know the Church speaks one language but these were the prevailing languages at the time of Peter and Paul, signifying that Christianity is a religion of unity and "Oneness"

FJ