The Fruitful Trials of St. Paul

Fifth Sunday of Easter
By Fr. Victor Feltes

Imagine if Osama bin Laden, after masterminding terrorist attacks, had repented and begun proclaiming Jesus Christ and the Gospel? Christians might understandably still be afraid of him and wary of his claimed Christian conversion. In the first century, prior to his famous conversion, St. Paul had intensely persecuted God’s Church and tried to destroy it. At the stoning of St. Stephen the Martyr he had guarded the cloaks of the murderers. Before encountering Christ on the way to Damascus, he was “breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples.” He had sought and obtained letters from the high priest empowering him to arrest any Christians he found in that city and take them back to Jerusalem as prisoners. So after his conversion, when “he arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, [but] they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.”

Yet it was all real and true. The amazing conversion of St. Paul, that fierce enemy of the early Church, is an authentic miracle in real history which has borne true fruit in Christ. St. Paul founded and fostered early Christian communities, wrote more books of the Bible than any other man, and had a hand in saving many souls. He also discovered good fruits for himself, including Christian peace and joy. St. Paul told the Philippians he had exchanged everything from before as if it were mere rubbish for “the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Such are fruits of a life in Christ.

Jesus tells his disciples in today’s gospel, “I am the vine, you are the branches.” He says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit…” Notice how Jesus says God prunes those who are in him. Pruning clips off of a vine branch certain shoots or leaves in order to help the branch to be healthy and grow and produce more and better fruit. If vine branches were conscious, self-aware like us, how would this pruning feel? Painful, I imagine. Even if a branch loved producing fruit and wished to produce much more, how would a vine branch feel about such pruning if it did not understand this pruning’s purpose? There is a danger for a Christian who expects only comforts in this life and is surprised by the coming of any trials.

Consider the life of St. Paul. He suffered and endured many trials. Five times he received thirty-nine lashes from Jewish foes, three times he was beaten with rods, one time he was stoned, three times he survived shipwrecks, and ultimately he was beheaded by the Romans. St. Paul was not always liked, even by fellow Christians. It appears some Christians at Corinth said things like, “His letters are severe and forceful, but his bodily presence is weak and his speech is contemptible.” St. Paul’s letters reflect that the first Christian communities were far from perfect and they gave him many stressful problems to deal with. He writes of having beautiful mystical experiences but also of a “thorn” in his flesh and physical illness. St. Paul’s life was not always comfortable. However, he wrote to the Philippians, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

When St. Paul, now amongst the saints and angels in heaven, looks back on all his troubles and beholds all their good fruits, does he believe that it was worth it? Of course he does. And he cheers us on alongside that “great cloud of witnesses,” prayerfully interceding for us to “persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus.” In both good times and in bad, Jesus counsels us to remain in him. “Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit… By this is my Father glorified…” And in this will be our glory too.

Growing In Christ’s Likeness

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Victor Feltes

This Sunday’s readings feature Job, Paul, and the mother-in-law of Simon Peter. What do these three people have in common? Let’s consider each in turn.

In our first reading we hear from Job who, like Jesus Christ and Mother Mary, suffers greatly despite his innocence. “I have been assigned months of misery,” he says, and troubled nights have been allotted to me. My days [swiftly] come to an end without hope.” At one point, Job’s wife even tells him to “curse God and die!” Yet, despite his painful, honest questions, Job never disobeys. He never renounces the Lord.

Next we hear the Apostle Paul telling the Corinthians how and why he preaches the gospel. Paul insists that preachers have a right to payment for their work, just like others who do valuable labor. He asks, “What then is my recompense?” What is his repayment or reward? “That, when I preach, I offer the gospel free of charge so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.” What is Paul saying? How is he repaid by not getting paid? Paul says he makes himself “a slave to all so as to win over as many as possible… All this I do for the sake of the gospel, so that I too may have a share in it.”

Lastly, we hear the story from Mark’s Gospel about Simon Peter’s sick mother-in-law. She lays in bed in Capernaum enduring a severe fever. Having just cast out a demon at the synagogue, when Jesus enters the nearby house of Simon Peter and Andrew along with James and John, they immediately tell him about her condition. Jesus approaches her, grasps her hand, and helps her up. The fever leaves her immediately and she waits on them. It seems she had been eager to serve, only her illness had prevented her. Something which Job, and Paul, and Simon Peter’s mother-in-law have in common (besides all appearing in today’s readings) is sharing a likeness to Jesus.

We see Jesus in our gospel driving out demons and curing the sick. If he had been charging fees for his healings, Jesus might have soon become the richest man in Capernaum. If he had announced that he was the Messiah and called men in the region to take up arms with him, Jesus could have soon been seated upon a Jerusalem throne. Instead, though everyone is looking for him, Jesus withdraws alone to a deserted place to pray. Jesus Christ was not called to be great in worldly wealth and power (in the pattern of Herod, or Pilate, or Caesar) but to be a suffering servant. He had not come to be served but to serve, giving his life as a ransom for many.

This is the path to Christ’s glory, which he calls others to share. So the innocent victim Job undergoes a “dark night” when his physical and spiritual consolations are stripped away. Would he still love God and goodness when no longer tasting their rewards? Through Job’s trials his love is purified to become more like Christ’s in his Passion. And St. Paul, like Jesus, does not labor for earthly riches but takes the form of a slave. He ministers for the love of souls and to share in heaven’s reward which this world cannot equal. And Simon Peter’s mother-in-law is eager to serve as she is able, agreeing with Jesus that it more blessed to give than to receive.

It’s too late in time for your name or mine to be written in the Bible, but if in the end our names appear in heaven’s Book of Life, our Christian lives will have shared some likeness to the life of Jesus Christ.

Give Others The Royal Treatment

Solemnity of Christ the King
By Fr. Victor Feltes

After having supported the murder of St. Stephen the Martyr, Saul of Tarsus was trying to destroy the early Church. He entered house after house, dragging out Christian men and women and handing them over for imprisonment. Still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord, Saul went to the high priest and obtained official authorization to arrest any Christians he might find in Damascus and bring them back to Jerusalem in chains. But on his way to Damascus, this future saint saw the light.

Light from the sky suddenly flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice ask him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” “Who are you, sir,” Saul replied. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” Notice how Jesus did not ask “why are you persecuting my people” or “why are you persecuting my Church,” though both of these descriptions would have been accurate. Jesus asks, “Why are you persecuting me? … I am…whom you are persecuting.”

Imagine if you and I are standing side-by-side in a buffet line and I willfully knock your hand out of the way as we both reach for the delicious deviled eggs. Will your feelings of offense be any less if I reply, “Oh, I didn’t hit you—I merely slapped away your hand”? No, every part of your body is one with you. If I mistreat one of your members, I am mistreating you.

St. Paul and the Holy Spirit teach us in the New Testament: “You are now Christ’s body, and individually parts of it… He is the head of the body, the Church, … [and] we, though many, are one body in Christ.” Jesus himself teaches, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” This is why he will declare at the Last Judgment “what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me” and “whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.” Our mystical union with Jesus Christ is more intimate than we realize and this has important implications.

The 1st Letter of St. John tells us, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” Now man does not live by bread alone, but we are called to practice Corporal (that is, bodily or material) Works of Mercy. St. James writes, “If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,’ but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is that?” Jesus is hungry and thirsty, ill-clothed and a stranger, sick and imprisoned in his brothers and sisters, and our love for him is reflected in our care for them.

Yet do not fall for the demons’ trap; their persistent accusations which sound like: “You could be doing more; you should always be doing more!” They seek to rob you of your peace and lead you to ultimately give up the good things you are doing because of discouragement. God our Maker knows that our time, talents, and treasure are finite; resources spent on one holy effort cannot be spent on another. Nevertheless, it is important for us to be self-reflective and truly generous with ourselves and what we have.

When you see others or interact with people, try to remember the One whom you mystically encounter. Give them the royal treatment. Notice how both the saved and the damned will someday ask our King, ‘When did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison?’ He will reply, ‘Indeed, whatever you did for one of the least of mine, you did for me.’ It is a truer reality than we realize and all too easily forgotten, yet valuable for us to remember always.

Fruitful Love Despite Our Flaws — The Justin Wachtendonk & Brenna Werner Wedding

By Fr. Victor Feltes

Justin and Brenna, you have chosen beautiful readings for your wedding Mass. Including your second reading, the most popular of all wedding reading options: St. Paul’s famous poetic hymn about love. In the 13th chapter of his 1st Letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul teaches what love does and does not do. These words contain blessed lessons for us all. Today, I wish to highlight the rarely-considered context of those passages to help married couples and people within Christ’s Church of our day.

When we think of the early Church, we tend to picture it as a golden age. The apostles were still alive on earth preaching the Gospel, performing miracles, and founding Christian communities. Divinely inspired books were still being written for what would become the New Testament of the Bible. The Church’s membership was growing widely and rapidly, while producing great saints and martyrs. But this does not mean that everything was perfect. Far from it!

You can see this in St. Paul’s 1st Letter to the Corinthians. He writes them to address the many things that were going wrong at the Church in Corinth. For instance, Paul corrects the Corinthian Christians’ bitter internal rivalries and factionalism. He notes the external scandal caused by them suing each other in secular courts. He critiques the Corinthians’ inflated pride. He excommunicates a certain man for his unrepentant sexual sins. He condemns the Church at Corinth’s liturgical abuses (against the Real Presence of Jesus and one another) at their celebrations of the Holy Eucharist. And St. Paul cites still more controversies than these. So things in the early Church were not so idyllic as we might imagine. And that can be a great encouragement for us today!

The early Church, despite the many flaws of her members, produced good, much good, world-transforming good and the salvation of many souls, in those days and thereafter. The Church today, despite the many flaws of her members, still produces much good, world-transforming good and the salvation of many souls. His Church build upon a rock is, as Jesus says in our Gospel, “a city set on a mountain which cannot be hidden.” She remains, “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world” — purifying, enlightening, enhancing, and saving.

Whatever goodness is found in Christ’s Bride, the Church, is like the worthy wife the Book of Proverbs describes in our first reading. As the pearl of great price, “her value is far beyond pearls.” “Her husband, entrusting his heart to her, has an unfailing prize. She brings him good, and not evil, all the days of her life.” She labors alongside him, “reaches out her hands to the poor,” and he will “give her a reward of her labors, and let her works praise her.” This is a great encouragement for us in his Church, but also a great encouragement for all Christian married couples here.

Justin and Brenna, you are about to enter a new covenant with Christ. In your sacramental marriage, you will encounter each other’s flaws and experience trials, as every married couple will. Do not be surprised when not everything is perfect and do not be alarmed. Maintain your peace. With a love that is patient, a love that is kind, a love that most importantly has its origin and strength in Christ, you will ‘bear all things and endure all things.’ His “love never fails.” Like his Church, which despite the imperfections of her members produces much good fruit, your marriage — if united to Christ — will never fail.

Three Imperfections in the Life of Saint Paul

5th Sunday of Ordinary Time
By Fr. Victor Feltes

 The oldest known depiction of St. Paul the Apostle, a fresco from the Catacomb of Saint Thekla in Rome dated to the 300’s A.D.

St. Paul is one of history’s greatest saints. Today I would like to talk about his vision, his preaching, and his early church communities. But what I would like show you (for your benefit) is that his vision, his preaching, and his early Church communities were not as perfect as you probably imagine.

First of all, St. Paul had vision problems. I do not mean anything was wrong with his inspired Christian insights, but that his physical ability to see was limited. When he beheld the glorified and risen Jesus on the road to Damascus, an intense light shone from the sky around him. Paul got up from the ground and opened his eyes but he could not see anything. After three days, our Lord sent a Christian named Ananias to prayerfully lay his hands upon him. “Immediately, things like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight.” Yet issues with Paul’s vision seem to have lingered or later reemerged. While writing to the Christians of Galatia more than a decade after his conversion, St. Paul recalls, “You know that it was because of a physical illness that I originally preached the gospel to you.” He does not directly identify his malady, but he observes, “Indeed, I can testify to you that, if it had been possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.” And in closing this letter to the Galatians, Paul writes, “See with what large letters I am writing to you in my own hand!” These clues suggest that swapping-out his eyes for another pair would have improved Paul’s poor and ailing eyesight.

Another historical detail few notice about St. Paul is that his letters were apparently more impressive than his public speaking abilities. In his second letter to Corinth, St. Paul addresses criticisms about himself, noting “someone will say, ‘his letters are severe and forceful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech is contemptible.’” Paul acknowledges in today’s second reading that he met the Corinthians and proclaimed the Gospel to them without “sublimity of words or of wisdom.” “I came to you,” he writes, “in weakness and fear and much trembling, and my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom…” By God’s grace, his preaching did bear fruit, but Paul’s writings came across as being more eloquent and powerful.

A third overlooked aspect of St. Paul’s life is that the Christian communities he led were far from perfect. People often think of the early Church as a golden age. We lament the Catholic Church’s present problems and idealize her past. Yet throughout his New Testament letters, St. Paul is constantly correcting the early Christians’ beliefs and behaviors. Consider the Church at Corinth. Paul admonishes those Corinthians for their pride, for their internal divisions, for their liturgical abuses, and for their toleration of “immorality of a kind not found even among pagans.” Early Christian communities had real issues, and St. Paul did not find it easy to pastor them.

So to recap, St. Paul’s health was not perfect, his human talents were not perfect, and his parishes were not perfect. And yet, neither his poor health, nor his uneven talents, nor the problems within the Church prevented St. Paul from faithfully bearing everlasting fruits. I wanted to highlight the weaknesses and imperfections of St. Paul and the early Christians to help us appreciate that our circumstances are not so different today. When Jesus Christ declares, “You are the salt of the earth,” and “You are the light of the world,” he really is talking about us too. Our Lord would do great and important things through you, and the good you are doing now does more good than you know. So carry your burdens, endure your trials, and keep the Faith like St. Paul did. As Jesus once said to console St. Paul in his struggles, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”

Resolving Christian Controversy

6th Sunday of Easter
By Fr. Victor Feltes

There was a serious religious controversy in the very early Church. The Acts of the Apostles records this story which contains important lessons for you and me and Christ’s one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church in every age. In the first century A.D., some Jewish Christians came down to Antioch and were telling the Christians there: “Unless you are circumcised according to the Mosaic practice, you cannot be saved.” Many of the Christians in Antioch were Gentile converts. As Gentiles they had not followed the many Jewish religious laws, including circumcision. Now they were being told they had no share in Jesus Christ’s New Covenant unless they kept the entire Mosaic Covenant.

This was a crucial matter: either these Gentiles were not yet experiencing Christ’s salvation, or else the Law of Moses was being needlessly placed as a barrier between Gentiles and Jesus Christ. St. Paul and St. Barnabas strenuously opposed this alternate interpretation of the Gospel which was disturbing and dividing their community, but how could this important issue be decisively and infallibly settled? Everyone forming their own interpretations obviously would not resolve it. How could the Christian community be sure of the truth?

The Acts of the Apostles details how “it was decided that Paul, Barnabas, and some of the others should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and presbyters about this question.” A Church council was held in Jerusalem and after they had discussed and discerned the matter, “the apostles and presbyters, in agreement with the whole church, decided to choose (a pair of) representatives and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. (They selected) Judas, who was called Barsabbas, and Silas, (two) leaders among the brethren.”

And they did not send Barsabbas and Silas empty-handed. The pair carried a letter from the council, which read in part: “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities.” It then listed a handful of culturally offensive and/or sinful acts to abstain from before concluding, “If you keep free of these, you will be doing what is right. Farewell.” In other words, the Gentile Christians would not be required to follow the full Mosaic Law.

Notice how the Church’s leaders, the apostles and presbyters in Jerusalem, pronounce their teaching with authority: “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us…” As Jesus had promised at the Last Supper, “The Holy Spirit…will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.” The Church’s leaders teach in union with and in cooperation with the Holy Spirit.

Note as well how they do not send this letter by itself, but along with Barsabbas and Silas. This is partly to attest to the genuineness of the message—it’s not something Paul and Barnabas simply made up themselves. The accompanying witnesses are also sent to clarify any ambiguities and answer what remaining questions the Christians at Antioch might have. For instance, the Council of Jerusalem’s short letter bids the Christians to abstain from “porniea,” which various Christian Bibles translate as “sexual immorality,” or “fornication,” or “unlawful marriage.” But what was the precise meaning they intended here? One of these things or all of them together? Barsabbas and Silas could answer. We see that even a text inspired by the Holy Spirit (as this one was) can require an authoritative interpreter to be properly understood.

When the delegation from Jerusalem arrived at Antioch, the letter was read to the Christian community and the people were delighted. Barsabbas and Silas preached to them, encouraging them, and remained with them for some time. The controversy was resolved, and the community’s unity and peace of mind were restored; for the Bride of Christ, Mother Church, had spoken, removing all doubt about what Jesus wanted them to do.

This, of course, would not be the last controversy in Church history. Every century since has seen its heresies, and every error gains some followers because it is so easy to be mistaken. Clever minds and willful hearts in a fallen world can go down many false paths, and when lambs or sheep choose their own ways to go they scatter from Christ’s flock. Thankfully, God has given us his Holy Word in Sacred Scripture to help us to know him and his saving, loving will for our lives.

However, the Scriptures do not automatically interpret themselves. Even self-proclaimed “Bible Only” Christian denominations disagree with one another over important questions. The Protestant principle of Sola Scriptura (that “Scripture Alone” is the sole authority for Christian faith and life) is a self-refuting concept because the Bible does not teach it. How can someone even be sure which books are supposed to be in our Bible without there being an infallible Church to recognize them and place them into the canon of biblical books? Without a Spirit-guarded, infallibly-teaching Magisterium neither the Christians at Antioch nor Christians today could be sure about what we are to believe.

The Church of Jesus Christ is not meant to be many separate denomination, but one. Christ’s Church is not meant to bring salvation only to some, but to all. And the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of Christ shares a continuity in her structure and in her teaching throughout the centuries from St. Peter and the apostles to Pope Francis and the bishops today.

In 1926, when G.K. Chesterton wrote his essay “Why I am a Catholic,” he presented a number of reasons, but the answer of his which has always stood out to me is this one: “(I am a Catholic because it) is the only thing that frees a man from the degrading slavery of being a child of his age.” Some secular people imagine our present generation is the first one to get everything right, but in one hundred years another secular generation will mock and cringe at this one while embracing another set of fashionable errors of their own. However, in one hundred years the Catholic Church will remain, built solidly upon rock, and united to the Person and teachings of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Here is a final reflection from the controversy at Antioch. The teaching of Paul and Barnabas was right, and Barsabbas and Silas carried authority from the apostles. They were important witnesses to the Faith. But their message would have been undermined in the minds of others if St. Paul, St. Barnabas, St. Barsabbas, or St. Silas had not lived as saints. Our fellow Christians, even popes or bishops, may disappoint or cause scandal by their poor personal example, harming souls. But let us, you and I, rededicate ourselves to Christ, loving him and serving him, remaining close to him in the Sacraments, allowing ourselves to be more fully converted to him, so that others may know, love, and faithfully follow Jesus alongside us in his Holy Catholic Church.

Encountering God, we Cannot Remain the Same

5th Sunday of Lent
By Fr. Chinnappan Pelavendran 

We are just one week away from the Holy Week and away from our celebration of God’s love shown in the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus. For us, this season of Lent is a time of special grace in which we experience the presence of a God who cares and loves us. Our response is to transform ourselves and to live according to his will. Before him, we acknowledge our weakness and we know that he is the one who supports us and builds with us new relationships we ought to change our lives during Lent and come closer to him.

In today’s First Reading, we heard the prophetic Words of the Lord God speaking to the prophet Isaiah. Yahweh begins by identifying Himself. He says that it was He who created Israel. It was He who led the Exodus of His people under the leadership of Moses. It was He who divided the Red Sea and who destroyed the great army of the Pharaoh of Egypt. It was He who quenched the life out of the enemies of His people. God tells them to look ahead and not to look back into the past. The past always closes our minds and does not allow us to see things in the present moment as they are. The Lord promises to the people, “I am about to do a new thing for I am about to create new heavens and a new earth, and former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.”

In the second reading of today, St. Paul tells the church of Philippi to break away from its past. St. Paul presents his reflections on how much God loves him, He says I have accepted the loss of everything, and I look at everything so much as rubbish if only I can have Christ and be given a place in him. All I want is to know Christ and the power of his resurrection. In his search for perfection, he observed all the rules and norms as a Pharisee, but ultimately he found the meaning in Christ. He accepted the loss of all things that he might gain Christ.

The Gospel of today places before us an episode that emphasizes the need to examine ourselves and avoid passing any judgment on others. Generally, there is a tendency within us to find fault in others and to condemn them. As we approach the end of the Lenten season, we are reminded of the great opportunity to cooperate with God’s special graces. The Gospel presents to us a sharp contrast between the cruelty and wickedness of the scribes and Pharisees and the compassion of Jesus. The scribes and Pharisees had no regard for the woman caught in adultery and brought her to Jesus the master. They were only interested in using her to try to trap Jesus. Jesus places a bigger challenge before the accusers. He asks them to consider their actions and their shortcomings. He tells them to look into themselves before passing any judgment on others.

Jesus has forgiven the woman’s sin and expects her to live from now on in a life of grace and union with God by not sinning anymore. He gives her a chance to change her life completely. The Pharisees and the Scribes were proud and arrogant and preferred to judge. They had no idea how to love, how to forgive but only how to observe the Law externally. They did not love God’s people.

Once a person is touched by God and has received His divine command, he cannot remain the same person. That was the experience of Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Peter, Paul, and several others who came into close contact with him and remained united to Him. In the Word of God today, we heard the divine message that God makes all things new. Jesus gives us a basic command that helps us to identify that we are on our way to reaching union with Him. We must persevere in our living faith. As Jesus said to the woman so he tells us Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.

God Chooses People Like You

4th Sunday of Ordinary Time
By Fr. Chinnappan Pelavendran

“Isn’t this the son of a carpenter?” —Luke 4:22

God chooses and uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. He doesn’t need our ability, but rather our availability. He uses ordinary people who have nothing of their own to offer except their faithfulness and willingness to say “Yes” to God. One important point to note is that God does not call anyone by accident. Instead, He carefully considered before calling us. He knew each one of us personally. He also knows what he wants us to do for him. He calls us by our own names, with a plan in His mind.

We see this in the First Reading, which speaks of the calling of Jeremiah to be a prophet who will communicate God’s Word to his people. It was a calling that went back to the time before he was born. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.” All of us have actually been called in this way. But our reaction is often similar to Jeremiah’s: “‘Ah, Lord God!’ ‘I know not how to speak; I am too young.’” But the Lord responded, “Say not, ‘I am too young’. To whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall speak…” Then the Lord extended his hand and touched his mouth, saying: “See, I place my words in your mouth.” An ordinary youth called by God to do His Mission.

Look at the Apostle Paul. Whose feast day we celebrated on January 25th. St. Paul was one of the most educated men of his day and yet God brought him down in Acts 9. God opened his eyes to the beauty and glory of Jesus. Once Paul knew Jesus, all of his education, gifts, and talents were directed towards the Gospel. The Lord uses those humbled by a vision of His greatness and glory to testify to the proud and religious. The Lord humbled the Apostle Paul and used him mightily to plant churches, preach the Gospel, write more than a dozen New Testament letters, and so much more. God used educated people for His glory but often humbled them because of their pride so they will rely on Him.

Peter was a fisherman by trade, along with his brother Andrew. He grew into a gifted preacher and bold leader. Jesus told Peter that he would deny Him three times, but Peter didn’t believe Him. Imagine Peter, the leader of the Apostles and a member of the inner circle of the Son of God, denied him three times. Peter felt devastation, shame, and guilt. He may have thought “I’m such a failure that God could never use me again,” but that isn’t true. God uses our failures, hardships and trials for His glory. He turns what was meant for bad to testify to His grace. You say that you are a failure and yet God says because of the finished work of Christ you are victorious. The Apostle Peter went on to be mightily used by God because He was broken. You may be broken right now but in due season God will build you up and use you for His glory. Don’t run from Him, run to Jesus. God uses ordinary people for His glory.

Jesus is a good manual worker from a small village. He is just another person in the town. But the rumors being spread about his actions in Capernaum and the words he has just spoken seem to indicate a special connection with God. On the one hand, his origins are well-known, but on the other hand his origin is completely unknown. Who is Jesus really? The ordinary carpenter, Jesus, is the Son of God who has become man in order to redeem us from our sins.

How could God use you? Look at your situation and your surroundings. Perhaps God has placed you in your school, your job, your family, or your neighborhood to do something special for the Lord Jesus Christ. God is calling you right now; all you have to do is say, “Yes, Lord!” Will you make yourself available to Him? Remember, God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things for His glory!

Wisdom for the Discouraged

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In our first reading, we hear the deep discouragement of Job:

“Is not man’s life on earth a drudgery?
…I have been assigned months of misery…
…My days… they come to an end without hope.
…I shall not see happiness again.”

If you are familiar with Job’s story you know he says these words during a very dark time in his life. Though innocent, he is in the midst of an extended trial, with emotional suffering, physical pain, loss, and loneliness. His words, like all the words of Scripture, are offered for our benefit — thanks be to God. And indeed, the Book of Job has lessons to teach us in our hard times.

One thing we learn from Job is that we can be real and honest with God. By the end of the book, Job is shown that God’s vast creations, plans, and purposes are beyond Job’s comprehension, for “Great is our Lord and mighty in power; to his wisdom there is no limit,” yet the Lord does not condemn Job for his questioning. In fact, God has Job intercede on behalf of his friends who had argued Job’s sufferings must be on account of his own sins. God has Job pray for them that they may be forgiven their error. The number of plaintive psalms that God inspired and made sure were included in Sacred Scripture suggests that he wants us to bring our complaints to him. The very name of God’s people “Israel” means “He who wrestles with God,” and you cannot wrestle with someone without drawing close to them.

The Lord wants us to be honest with him because that is the real us and the kind of relating that will actually help us. If you wear a disguise in God’s presence, it won’t fool him and it won’t help you. In spiritually directing others and in studying myself, I have noticed that when we are avoiding times of prayer or finding our prayer times very dry, it is often because we are avoiding relating something to the Lord. There’s something we don’t want to look at or talk about with him. Imagine if you had a good doctor, indeed the very best doctor – would it be wise to find excuses to miss your appointments or lie to your physician about how you were feeling? Reveal your wounds and symptoms to the Divine Physician that you may be healed. As today’s psalm says, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” Today’s gospel tells us, “Rising very early before dawn, [Jesus] left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.” If making time for daily personal prayer was a top priority for Jesus, how much more important must it be for us?

A second thing we learn from Job is that God is with us in our struggle and that the struggle is worth it. Though Job did not understand why he suffered, God was never far from him. God was proud of Job and praised him, “There is no one on earth like him, blameless and upright, fearing God and avoiding evil,” and through his trials and sufferings God made him greater still. Other Christians sometimes ask why we have crucifixes on our walls rather than a bare cross. “Christ is risen,” they remind us, “so why depict him as still suffering on the Cross?” In his post-Ascension appearance to one of the Church’s early persecutors, Jesus said, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” When asked by Saul, “Who are you, sir?” the reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” If you are a suffering member of Christ’s body then know that you do not suffer alone. This Saul is better known to us as St. Paul. When St. Ananias hesitated to visit him and heal his blindness, the Lord insisted, “Go, for this man is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and Israelites, and I will show him what he will have to suffer for my name.” St. Paul writes in today’s second reading that his life’s mission, the preaching of the gospel, was an obligation imposed upon him. He could either see this as a hard burden to grumble over, or as an opportunity to rejoice in, and thereby gain reward. St. Paul knew God’s purpose for his life and embraced it to great benefit.

Dr. Viktor Frankl was a Austrian-Jewish doctor who was deported to a Nazi concentration camp during the Second World War. After his liberation, Frankl wrote about what he observed and discovered about human nature during that terrible ordeal in his famous book “Man’s Search for Meaning.” Frankl says, “Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.” He says, “Nothing is [more] likely to help a person overcome or endure troubles than the consciousness of having a task [a purpose] in life.” So many people, believing that our existence in this universe is an accident and disbelieving that life has any objective purpose, grope through life striving to generate their own meaning and purpose. But you know you are not here by accident. “[The Lord] tells the number of the stars; he calls each by name.” Each one is in their place according to his purpose and so are you. Who made you? God made you. Why did God make you? He made you to know Him, love Him, and serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him for ever in the next. But even Christians sometimes wonder, “Does what I’m doing really matter? Is my life important? Are my struggles really worth it?” They think to themselves, “If I wasn’t here, I’d be replaced by someone else.” Perhaps, but that’s not the right way to frame your thought. What if you disappeared from your home, your job, your community, and no one came to fill your void? Consider all the good things that would go undone. That is your contribution to our world and those around you. And God has eternal purposes for you that extend beyond this life and world.

A third and final thing we learn from Job is that things are not so hopeless as they may seem and there are better things to come. The way that we happen to feel in any particular moment does not necessarily reflect reality. One afternoon when I was a seminarian, I was in my dorm room and had homework to do, but I was fed up with it, I had no motivation, and decided to give up and to go to bed. When I woke up three hours later, the world was transformed, brighter. I was happier, eager to work, and even the view outside my window seemed better. Of course, it wasn’t the world that changed but me. I was exhausted and I didn’t know it and this was coloring my perceptions. You are an union of body and spirit. You need sleep, and food, and personal connection. Self-care is important, so love yourself as well as your neighbor. If someone is diabetic, we do not tell them to just buckle down and change their attitude. They need insulin to be healthy. Sometimes people suffer chemical imbalances in their brains, often hereditary in origin, which burden their experience of life. We live in an age of wonders with remarkable medicines and we should be unashamed to seek help. As the 38th chapter of Sirach teaches: “Make friends with the doctor, for he is essential to you; God has also established him in his profession. From God the doctor has wisdom… Through which the doctor eases pain, and the druggist prepares his medicines.” Sirach explains that a good doctor is one of God’s instruments in doing his work on earth.

The story of Job shows us things are not so hopeless as they may seem – there are better things to come. We heard Job’s lament, “I shall not see happiness again,” but he was mistaken. Job’s lot got better. Much better. God restored the prosperity of Job and even gave him twice as much as he had before. Then all of his brothers and sisters came to him, and all his former acquaintances, and they dined with him in his house. They consoled him and comforted him and gave him gifts. Job would see his children, his grandchildren, and even his great-grandchildren in fullness of years. Thus the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his former ones. But what if the remaining years of my life do not get better? What if each new year becomes harder than the last? What if I have a stroke, or a heart attack, or terminal cancer and I am dead in six months? How can better times still be waiting for me? Are you not promised Heaven where you will experience the restoration, fellowship, and consoling joys Job knew? Then, in the end, as St. Julian of Norwich said, “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”

So remember that you can be completely real and honest with God, he invites this. Remember that the Lord is with you in your struggles and that these struggles are worth it. And remember that things are not so hopeless as they may seem, for with Jesus Christ there are surely better things to come.

When Demons Speak

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time

“The Devil Tempting a Young Woman” by André Jacques Victor Orsel, 1832.

Eve in the Garden of Eden, Jesus in the synagogue at Capernaum, and St. Paul on the roads of Greece each encountered demons speaking. The words of these rebellious, fallen angels are dangerous because they cleverly combine facts and falsehoods to mislead us toward sin and division. Jesus called the demonic warlord, Satan, the Devil, “a murderer from the beginning… a liar and the father of lies,” and the Book of Revelation identifies him as “the ancient serpent… who deceived the whole world.”

Satan was the serpent who approached Eve and asked, “Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat from any of the trees in the garden’?” The woman answered the serpent: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, or else you will die.’” But the serpent said to the woman: “You certainly will not die! God knows well that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know good and evil.”

The tree’s attractive fruit looked useful for nourishment and wisdom, so Eve took and ate it; and she gave some to her husband who was with her, and Adam ate it too. It’s true that they did not die in that instant and they did gain new insights into evil and its absence, but by this act of mistrust and disobedience toward God the grace and harmony of original holiness died within them. Adam and Eve were now separated from God, divided from each other, and doomed to suffer and someday die. The devil’s half-truths led them to this.

Another demon was inside of a man at the synagogue in Capernaum as Jesus taught there in today’s gospel. The unclean spirit cried out through the man in front of everyone, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God!” It’s true that Jesus is indeed the “Holy One of God,” but what effect could hearing the demon’s other words have on the townspeople? “What have you to do with us… Have you come to destroy us?” The demon insinuates that Jesus is there to condemn and destroy, that all sinners should fear God’s Holy One and flee or fight the Christ who has come to save them. Jesus rebuked the demon, saying, “Quiet! Come out of him!” The unclean spirit could not resist Jesus’ command, and after a convulsion and a loud cry the man was freed. Demons are untrustworthy spokesmen to proclaim Christ and his gospel.

About twenty years later, while St. Paul was doing missionary work in Greece, he and his companions met a slave girl who had a demon. The demon would pronounce oracles through her, generating large profits for her owners. (Demons reportedly do not know the future, but using their very high intelligence and powers of observation they can make keen guesses.) The girl began to follow Paul and his companions, shouting: “These people are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation!” She did this for many days and Paul became annoyed. He turned and said to the demon, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And the demon left her at that moment.

So what was wrong with what the demon was saying through the girl? In addition to yelling the message at inappropriate times, it contained a subtle, fatal flaw which – if uncorrected – could undermine the saving work that Paul was doing: “These people are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.” If the Good News of Jesus Christ were merely a way of salvation, then you could take him or leave him, and opt instead to choose some other saving path. But as St. Peter preached, “There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.”

As it was in the beginning and in the days of Jesus and his apostles, demons are still in our world today. Your baptism into Christ gives you great personal protection against them. You belong to Christ, so you should not be afraid, but I want you to be aware that the demons continue sowing seeds of sin and division in our time. Where are the demons active today? Where do we see the most harmful confusions and divisions? In so many teachings of our Catholic Faith the truth is a “both/and,” while the demonic errors and divisions of our time stem from false “either/or’s” and half-truths.

The demons either say that you need not change at all because you are loved by God, or that God will not love you until you become perfect. The truth is that you are loved by God as you are and called to repent and grow. The demons either tell you that God does not desire your happiness, or that you are entitled to avoid all suffering. The truth is God wills your greatest happiness and because of this he will lead you through trials. In this world, the demons encourage us to condemn one political party or politician and ignore the faults of the other, when the truth is both are flawed.

The demons don’t want you to see and promote full truths: that pregnant women need to be helped and unborn children must be protected; that immigrants should be welcomed and the rule of law should be respected; that all people are made for love, for intimacy with others, and sexual relations are meant only for holy matrimony; that there exists a God-given right to private property and a moral obligation to share with the needy; that we should live freely and use our freedom to honor God while safeguarding the good of others. Other examples are abundant around us.

Where there’s smoke there’s fire, and where truths are widely twisted and truncated demons have been at work with their old half-truth tricks. So do not conform to the demon-fueled factionalism of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind in the teachings of Jesus Christ and his Holy Catholic Church, that you may know and do the complete will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.

Our Glorious Friends

Solemnity of All Saints

The saints who have died are not dead – they are more alive than we are now. The human saints in Heaven lived in times past, but they were made of the same stuff and faced similar struggles then as you and I today. Though the Catholic Church has canonized thousands of saints, when you consider the billions of Christians throughout history canonizations are relatively rare, yet there are more saints in Heaven than we can count. We know this because of St. John’s Revelation of Heaven: “I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue.” The Lord Jesus Christ wants you to be in that number. Unfortunately, common misconceptions about saints can keep us further from them. So, in this homily, I would like to help you to grow closer to them in friendship and in likeness.

First realize that the saints are not dead and gone but still living. This is why whenever I preach about the deceased I try to speak of them using the present tense whenever some fact about them remains true. For instance, if a kind and generous Christian father of three dies he is still a kind and generous father of three. Rather than saying “his name was David,” faithfully witness that “his name is David” even after he has died. Though deprived of their bodies for the moment, those who are in Heaven are more alive than we are here. There they experience God opening himself to them an inexhaustible way. This is called the beatific vision, an ever-flowing well-spring of happiness, peace, and mutual communion. The saints in Heaven see God face to face, and they have become like him for they see him as he is.

What is a glorified human being or exulted human nature like? Let’s consider the Blessed Virgin Mary. How much does she know us? How much does she love us? Does she hear each one of our prayers addressed to her? It is our sense of the Faith that our spiritual mother does indeed know us and loves us individually as her children. But consider this: if every Catholic in the world offers one Hail Mary a day, this means an average of more than fifteen thousand new prayers come her way each second. Therefore, if Mary hears all our prayers, her experience of time and/or the capacity of her glorified consciousness must far surpass our own.

The other glorified saints in Heaven, our brothers and sisters in Christ, know and care about you too. They understand you because they’ve walked in our shoes. Governments and borders and technologies change over time, but human nature is constant. The saints began with the same humanity as you and I, experienced challenges like our own, and prevailed. Lots of canonized saints have been priests, nuns, bishops, popes, or martyrs, but Heaven is certainly not limited to these backgrounds. Saints come from varied walks of life. Some canonized saints did extraordinary miracles or had visions here on earth, but even for these most of their days were ordinary, spent faithfully doing very ordinary things like us.

The saints in Heaven are our friends who lend us constant aid even if we do not know their names yet. In response, I encourage you to befriend them back. Which ones? Try doing this holy experiment: ask Jesus to introduce you to a saint and then keep your eyes open. Watch for a saint to providentially present him or herself to you, perhaps through an icon, a painting, or a photograph, a book or a film, or mentioned in a conversation thereafter. I look forward to hearing whom you’ll meet. Take these saints as teachers you learn from, role models you imitate, heroes to inspire you, and holy intercessors whose prayers before God for you are very powerful. I urge you to follow the saints, because those who follow them will embody the beatitudes, become more like Jesus, and become saints themselves.

Though it is unlikely any of us here will be officially canonized by the Church, we are all called to be saints. You are called to be a saint. St. Catherine of Siena said, “If you are what you should be, you will set the world on fire.” Do not say, “I have too sinful of a past to become a saint.” Recall that St. Paul had once persecuted Christians. There is no saint without a past and no sinner without a future. And do not say, “I’m too imperfect to become a saint.” Realize that even while St. Peter was serving as the first pope he sometimes made personal mistakes in his ministry. And do not say, “I’m too late in my life to become a saint.” Remember how the Good Thief on his cross next to Jesus made the most of the time he had left. As St. John Paul the Great preached, “Become a saint, and do so quickly.” Jesus is calling you to be a saint, so befriend the saints and they will help you on the way to Heaven.

Praying Like Jesus

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

From the start to the finish of his public ministry, Jesus makes time for private, personal prayer. We see this throughout the gospels. In the first chapter of Mark’s Gospel, the morning after Jesus cured Simon Peter’s mother-in-law and others in the town of Capernaum, it says, “Rising very early before dawn, (Jesus) left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.” Then, before calling certain men from among his many followers to form his key inner circle, Luke’s Gospel notes: “(Jesus) departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named apostles.” And Matthew’s Gospel records how, on the night before he died, “Jesus came with (eleven of those Apostles) to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his apostles, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took along Peter, James, and John, and began to feel sorrow and distress. Then he said to them, “My soul is sorrowful even to death. Remain here and keep watch with me.” He advanced a little and fell prostrate in prayer, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will.” Today’s gospel begins with another example of Jesus’ commitment to private, personal prayer.

After Jesus had fed the crowds with the loaves and the fishes (which we heard about last Sunday) he made the apostles get into a boat and depart before him for the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Then Jesus went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When it was evening, he was there alone. Like the Prophet Elijah in our first reading, who retreated to a mountain to encounter God, Jesus seeks out a quiet and deserted place to pray. Though the wind, the earthquake, and the fire outside of Elijah’s cave all reflect something of God’s glory, chasing after these would be a distraction. God’s presence is revealed to Elijah as “a tiny whispering sound.” Do you put yourself in a place, do you give yourself enough time and space and silence, to encounter within you God’s tiny whispering sound through prayer? If it was very important for Jesus Christ the Son of God to devote focused time for prayer (and he did) how much moreso for you and me?

What was on Jesus’ mind and heart the night he prayed in today’s gospel? What did Jesus take to prayer? Recall that John the Baptist had recently been murdered. John’s disciples, after burying his body, went and told Jesus. When Jesus hears this news, he withdraws in a boat for a deserted place with the apostles where he finds thousands awaiting him. He heals them and teaches them and feeds them all. Then he dismisses the crowds, sends the apostles off ahead of him, and goes up the mountain to pray alone.

Was Jesus feeling sad that evening? Our Blessed Lord once said, “Blessed are they who mourn.” And he himself wept at the tomb of Lazarus. Jesus mourning at the death of John the Baptist, his friend, relative, and ally, is easy to imagine. Might Jesus have felt angry that night? Anger is the natural human reaction to a perceived injustice, and what happened to John was gravely wrong, a great injustice. Anger, like all human emotion, can be turned toward good or evil. For instance, zeal for his Father’s house moved Jesus to make a righteous mess of a marketplace that was hindering peoples’ worship and profaning the temple in Jerusalem. There are a number a divinely-inspired prayers among the Psalms which give voice to human sorrows, frustrations, and anxieties.

Did Jesus feel stress and strain about the steps of the path ahead of him? When people saw Jesus multiply those loaves and fishes, John’s Gospel tells us the crowd was going to carry him off to make him King of Israel, the Messiah of their dreams. But that would have derailed Christ’s redemptive mission as the Lamb of God, so Jesus did not permit his followers to do so. Jesus’ enemies, of course, presented obstacles as well. How was Jesus to reach and drink the cup at his mission’s end? In the Garden of Gethsemane, we see Jesus under great stress and strain even speak to his Father about the course of the Father’s plan. In prayer, Jesus could bring to God his Father, whatever he thought or felt.

Did Jesus pray for other people? In our second reading, St. Paul reveals a “great sorrow and constant anguish” in his heart. He swears by the Holy Spirit that he could wish himself “cut off from Christ,” could wish himself condemned to Hell, if that would somehow lead his people, the Jews, to Heaven. Do you think Paul prayed with that sorrow and anguish for others’ salvation? If Paul prays with such intense feeling, how much moreso does Jesus pray for the salvation of others from his Sacred Heart?

Jesus Christ is not only our Lord and Savior, he’s the best example for our Christian life. We must learn from him and imitate him. Here are three things Jesus does that we all should do likewise. First, Jesus makes time for private, personal prayer. Whether early morning or late at night, he created time for communing with the God who loves and leads him. Turn off the car radio, the TV, the devices, to make some silence to hear within you the “tiny whispering sound” of God. Second, Jesus prays with everything on his mind and heart. No thought or feeling need be hidden from the God who knows and loves you better than you do yourself. The Holy Trinity and our other heavenly friends want us to share these things, so that we may grow close together in their likeness and friendship. And third, Jesus prays for himself and others. Jesus says, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Therefore, if you only pray for yourself, or only pray for other people, something is out of balance in your prayer. In conclusion, make time for personal private prayer. Pray about anything on your mind and heart. And pray for yourself and others. Make this sacrifice, give yourself this gift, of communing in prayer with the Lord who loves and leads you.

Shepherds & Fishermen — 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time—Year A

What did the twelve apostles do for a living before Jesus called them to follow him? For six of the first apostles, that is half of the original twelve, we have no words from Scripture concerning their previous jobs. We are told that St. Matthew was a tax collector for the Roman government. We also hear of St. Simon the Zealot, who was either especially zealous in his personal religious devotion, or had ties to the Jewish Zealot movement is Israel. The Zealot movement sought, through politics and insurrection, to overthrow the Roman government in the Promised Land. If Matthew and Simon did indeed come from opposite sides of that era’s political spectrum, it suggests that every political party or faction has important things to learn from Jesus Christ.

In today’s Gospel, we learn the shared profession of four other apostles: Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John; they were commercial fishermen. Now the Lord choosing men from the fishing industry was something new in salvation history. In the Old Testament, God often employs shepherds in his holy service. Among the patriarchs there is Abraham, Jacob-Israel, and his twelve sons – shepherds all. Later there’s the prophet Moses, King David, and Amos the prophet, each of whom tended flocks for some time before receiving their higher calling from God. As far as I can tell, there are no fishermen of particular note in the Bible before these four to whom Jesus says, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Jesus, in calling fishermen, is doing something new. Now if the fishing background of these four apostles were irrelevant, I doubt the Holy Spirit would have inspired the inclusion of this fact into the Gospels. So what is the significance of this detail?

The work of a shepherd is different from that of fisherman. A shepherd tends his flock. He knows his sheep and his sheep know him. Some new lambs are born while other, older sheep go off to market or return to the earth, but the size of the sheepfold tends to remain rather stable. A fisherman, on the other hand, through his practiced skills and God’s providence, seeks and finds new fish every day. The fish are living in their own dark, watery world until the fisherman gathers them to himself. A shepherd maintains his numbers, but a fisherman goes out to seek more and more. Jesus chose his apostles not only to shepherd his people Israel, but to go forth to fish for people from all nations. Jesus made Peter not only a “fisher of men” but commanded him to ‘”feed my lambs… tend my sheep… feed my sheep.”

Today we primarily think of water as a symbol of life, because nothing lives without water. Yet in the ancient world, water was often seen as a symbol of death. It’s possible even on a calm day to drown in a river, lake, or sea, but the volatile, deadly nature of large bodies of water is the subject of stories, poems, and songs even up to our day. For example:

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee
Superior, they said, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early

Fish live with this realm of death, a dark, watery world. The fisherman brings fish into the light, to a higher realm, a world they had previously ignored or never imagined. In our semi-post-Christian world today, is Jesus calling you and I to be shepherds or fishermen? Are we meant to maintain our flock, or to endeavor for more unnetted souls? There is need for both missions. In fact, we are called to do both. Many around us are baptized and still identify as Christians, yet how deep does their faithful devotion really go? Peter and Andrew left their careers for Jesus. James and John left their family for Jesus. Yet how few people today even come to church for him. True devotion and divine relationship is ignored or never imagined. Jesus calls you to be a missionary; not on the far side of the earth so much as in our own community. Be able to give witness to him. When I was a kid, when we were driving home from Sunday Mass, my family would often talk about what we heard in the homily. Today you your drive home from church I encourage you to ask each other: Why did you come to church today? What difference does it make for your life? We need to practice sharing why our faith is a gift with one another so that we can invite others to share this treasure.

In our first reading from St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, we learn that the Christians in Corinth were choosing favorites and forming factions: ‘I belong to Paul. I belong to Apollos. I belong to Cephas.‘ St. Paul writes to remind them, you belong to Christ! Do not allow another person to get in way of Jesus for you. Pastors are important and Jesus has ordained it so, since without clear leadership how could St. Paul’s prayer and Christ’s desire, ‘that all of us agree in what we say, that there be no divisions among us, that we be united in the same mind and in the same purpose‘ ever be achieved? The need for human leadership of Jesus’ Church in this broken world, however, makes grave sin and scandal possible. This is a terrible thing, wherever and whenever it occurs. But please, please, do not separate from Peter on account of another apostle’s sin. You need Jesus, I need Jesus, and everyone else needs Jesus, too. Let us be good shepherds and fishers of men, caring for and seeking out everyone in our midst, as Jesus calls us to do.

Jesus and His Wounded Church

On October 15th, her feast day, I heard a story told of St. Teresa of Avila I had never heard before. It may be a pious legend (as I have not found any primary sources for the tale) but it contains a truth all the same. The story goes that Satan once appeared to the 16th century Spanish nun in the glorious guise of Jesus. Satan intended to lead Teresa astray, but she quickly saw he was not Christ. Before departing from her the Devil asked how she was so certain. She replied, “Because you have no wounds.”

In the Book of Acts we read that on the road to Damascus Saul heard a voice say, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” “Who are you, sir,” asked the afflictor of the Early Church. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” Jesus had already, some months or years before, bodily ascended into Heaven, but Our Lord felt all the afflictions of the Church on earth as his own. Saul repented, converted, and became St. Paul.

Jesus hates the grave mistreatment and harming of his members but his Body suffers and bears wounds still; wounds inflicted both from outside and within his Church. Jesus told his disciples, “Things that cause sin [literally “skandala,” scandals or stumbling-blocks] will inevitably occur, but woe to the person through whom they occur.” Yet even as Jesus heals and avenges his innocent, injured sheep he desires the salvation of wrongdoers too – that, justly-chastised, the sinner would ultimately appear before God as a saint.

Pray for our whole Church without despairing, for the victory of our Faithful Bridegroom is assured. St. Teresa of Avila said, “I do not fear Satan half so much as I fear those who fear him,” and she urged her sisters to unshakable confidence in Jesus Christ:

“Let nothing disturb thee; Let nothing dismay thee:
All thing pass; God never changes.
Patience attains all that it strives for.
He who has God finds he lacks nothing:
God alone suffices.”

The Time St. Paul Corrected St. Peter

Jesus gave Simon the fisherman the keys to his kingdom and changed his name to “Rock” (that is, “Petros” in Greek, or Peter):

“I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 16:18-19a)

The significance of these things is found in the Old Testament. The Lord changed the names of Abram, Sarai, and Jacob to Abraham, Sarah, and Israel to declare what God would achieve through their lives. (Abraham, for example, means “father of a multitude.”) In the old Davidic dynasty, the king’s chief steward and master of the royal household would carry a key symbolizing his authority. Thus, for Jesus’ Kingdom – the Church – Peter is given the great power and office of prime minister:

“Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:19b)

Yet, despite his divine calling, St. Peter was not always perfect in his personal example. The New Testament records that on one occasion he had to be fraternally corrected by St. Paul.

In the early years of the Church, as belief in the Gospel began to spread from Jerusalem into pagan lands, the question arose of how much of what God commanded through Moses needed to be observed by the Gentile (that is, non-Jewish) converts to the New Covenent. God gave not only the Ten Commandments in the Old Covenant but some 613 religious rules, touching on many areas of daily life, including food and clothing. These precepts were called the Mosaic law.

St. Peter’s vision at Joppa and his subsequent visit to Cornelius the centurion’s house in Caesarea (recounted in Acts 10) revealed to him God’s will that Gentile converts to Christianity need not be obliged to observe the full Mosaic law. Yet others were teaching, “Unless you are circumcised according to the Mosaic practice, you cannot be saved.” Around the year 50 A.D., the Apostles and other Church leaders gathered for the Council of Jerusalem to settle this question.

There, some from the party of the Pharisees who had become believers in Christ stood up and said to the assembly, “It is necessary to circumcise them and direct them to observe the Mosaic law.” But St. Peter replied, “[Why] are you now putting God to the test by placing on the shoulders of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? On the contrary, we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they.” (Acts 15:10-11) And the Council decreed that Gentile Christians were free from observing the bulk of Jewish religious rules and customs.

The Dispute at Antioch: Saints Peter & Paul by Jusepe de Ribera

But there was a later episode at Antioch where Peter’s personal example did not match his professed beliefs, and St. Paul was moved to correct him:

“[W]hen Cephas (the Aramaic word for “Rock” or “Peter”) came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he clearly was wrong. For, until some people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to draw back and separated himself, because he was afraid of the circumcised. And the rest of the Jews also acted hypocritically along with him, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not on the right road in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of all, “If you, though a Jew, are living like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?” (Galatians 2:11-14)

Apparently, the “people from James” were Jewish Christians who were disapproving of Peter eating non-kosher meals with the Gentile Christians, leading Peter to withdraw from table fellowship with those non-Jewish converts. St. Peter, the first Pope, was preserved by God from teaching error, but he was not immune to personal faults. Paul publicly corrected Peter because his failure in leadership was leading to scandal within the Church. Spirit-led fraternal correction is a spiritual work of mercy and a duty of Christian love.

The Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law says:

“[The Christian faithful] have the right, indeed at times the duty, in keeping with their knowledge, competence and position, to manifest to the sacred Pastors their views on matters which concern the good of the Church. They have the right also to make their views known to others of Christ’s faithful, but in doing so they must always respect the integrity of faith and morals, show due reverence to the Pastors and take into account both the common good and the dignity of individuals.” (Canon 212, Section 3)

In this present, painful season in the Church, let us remain faithful but not silent. Let us insist of our shepherds that these scandals may lead to cleansing through true leadership and effective reform.