I’ll keep this one short, but I wanted to share a podcast that, frankly, I thought had gone away. “Letters from Home” is a daily offering from the St. Paul Center with a reflection on the day’s Mass readings. Always about 10-15 minutes long, they are frequently gems. Listen daily, before Mass, after Mass, or even (maybe especially) if you can’t get to Mass.
Today’s installment by Dr. Scott Hahn was particularly edifying. He brought out to me several aspects of the familiar story of the mother of James and John asking a favor for her sons. It’s this sort of exposition that I wish many priests would adopt in their homilies. Bringing out aspects of the familiar that are unfamiliar to the pew-sitter, along with practical applications for daily living, makes Scripture come alive and brings to new light the relevance of the Word.
Check out today’s reflection here. From this page you can link to places to subscribe on your smart phone.
Allow me to add a note of my own on the readings. I wonder how close a follower of Jesus these two brothers’ mom was. “She did him homage,” so she knew who He was first hand, through her sons’ witness, or, most likely, both. Since they came up to Jesus as a threesome, did they discuss this beforehand? Did the boys ask their mom to do this? Did she come up with it? If so, did they encourage her or attempt to dissuade her? Did she really understand Jesus’ response? Did James and John know what they were agreeing to?
We know Jesus is speaking of a chalice of suffering. But, I wonder, when James and John were “breaking the bread” after Jesus Ascension and offering the cup, now transformed into Christ’s blood, did they think back to this episode and how Jesus’ Passion and death gave us this chalice of salvation? They really held a “treasure in earthen vessels,” as Paul exclaims at the beginning of today’s first reading.
What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?
Lk 11:11-12
A backhanded compliment from the Lord in today’s Gospel (Lk 11:1-13). More to the point, particularly in today’s culture, is the last verse in which He calls man “wicked.”
What do I mean? Well, I hope that no parent would give his child a venomous creature instead of a meal. But are we not feeding children poison just be giving them a “smart” phone or computer? Without close supervision and restrictions, the filth that can be allowed in on these devices is staggering.
What about the awful agenda that would expose even the earliest school children to sexual perversion? Are we, wittingly or unwittingly, giving over our most vulnerable minds to these snakes? Parents must be tuned in to what goes on in their schools and even their local libraries and bookstores so that their children might be protected at such a vulnerable age. Not to mention the horror show that is the transgender movement that targets younger and younger children.
Isn’t it interesting that Christ uses serpents and scorpions in His example. Of course, we know the serpent from the book of Genesis and how his tempting led to the downfall of our first parents and, as a result, the rest of humanity for all time. As for scorpions, we read in the last book of the Bible, Revelation, about the fifth trumpet blast opening a bottomless pit from which
Locusts came out of the smoke onto the land, and they were given the same power as scorpions of the earth.
They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or any tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
They were not allowed to kill them but only to torment them for five months; the torment they inflicted was like that of a scorpion when it stings a person.
Rev 9:3-5
How can someone say he is sealed by God when allowing all manner of evil to infect his mind and the minds of those he is charged to protect and to lead to eternal life? It is vital to be aware that these are the end times, because Christ has come and we are in the period of awaiting His final return. Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour. (Mt 25:13)
Thus, parents and all those who have substantial interaction with our young people would be wise to carefully consider and steadfastly heed Jesus’ stern warning a little further along in Luke:
He said to his disciples, “Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the person through whom they occur.
It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.
Lk 17:1-2
The activists, and even the simply neglectful, will suffer the most in eternity unless they convert and repent.
Jesus follows this admonition to those who are aware of the problem:
Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him…
Lk 17:3
So, we also have a responsibility to call out evil when we see it and actively do something to stop it. It is not easy. The repercussions in a world gone mad can be harsh. But it can be done, Jesus assures us:
Behold, I have given you the power ‘to tread upon serpents’ and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you.
Lk 10:19
We have a responsibility to the truth. And, ultimately, the truth will set you free (Jn 8:32b).
HELPFUL BOOKS IN THE CULTURE WAR
All of these I recently obtained and am eager to get to. Each will be helpful in fulfilling the responsibility I just mentioned. Click through to read more about them and to purchase.
Daniel Lord, S.J. was much better known to a different generation. A recent article reminded me of him and caused me to seek out his last book, one that he wrote after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. It is not a sad book at all, and contains no mention of his condition.
Anyway, I came across this wonderful thought of his. I have spent some time thinking of eternity. It was heartening to me, and will be heartening to anyone who has concerns about what Heaven will be like, particularly the idea that it will be boring.
Heaven is the place where human curiosity will be eternally stimulated, always satisfied, and never satiated … [I]t gives me a thrill to know that what curiosity I have is hardly more than an appetizer for the eternity that lies ahead.
Daniel A. Lord, S.J. Letters to my lord (New York: herder and herder, 1969), 98, 102
It will be like roaming the most awesome library conceivable and having direct access to Truth when questions arise. As a book lover, and one with an unabated hunger for knowledge, that is certainly heavenly.
ST. BONAVENTURE
Today is the Memorial of St. Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (and cardinal). I recall reading some of his work in my Master’s program and being very impressed. I have a renewed interest now that I belong to St. Bonaventure parish. I recently picked up The Works of Bonaventure and am awaiting a biography (there don’t seem to be a lot of these, as I could only find the one). We do know he was a biographer of Francis of Assisi whose order Bonaventure joined. He also was a dear friend of Thomas Aquinas, whose order, the Dominicans, I hope to one day be fully professed in. Coincidentally, Bonaventure was born the year Dominic died: 1221.
St. Bonaventure, ora pro nobis!
ON EXTREMISM
I have been reading some comments on a conservative news/opinion website that I like. I have grown increasingly disturbed by so many folks speaking favorably about abortion there, some favoring restrictions and some opposed to any restrictions, but defenders of life from conception are hard to find. Particularly disturbing are those weighing in who speak of extremists on both sides. There is, essentially, no extreme pro-life position, save the possibility of those who believe that the pregnant mother’s life may not be saved for any reason (see this article for a proper Catholic perspective and go to NCBC regularly or subscribe to its newsletter for reliable information on Catholic moral teaching on all the challenging issues).
I know that any comparison with Naziism is fraught, but, considering the widespread acceptance of abortion today, is it so difficult to understand how so many Germans could go along with such a murderous regime knowing, or at least strongly suspecting, the killing of Jews, Catholics, homosexuals, and the physically and mentally handicapped?
Science, as well as Christianity, tells us that a unique human life is present at the moment of conception. Many Americans believe life in the womb, at least for some period of time, is Lebensunwertes Leben (“life unworthy of life”) — a Nazi designation for the segments of the populace which according to the Nazi regime had no right to live.
Hear the word of the LORD, princes of Sodom! Listen to the instruction of our God, people of Gomorrah! … Your hands are full of blood! Wash yourselves clean! Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes; cease doing evil; learn to do good. Make justice your aim…
Is 1:10, 15b-17a
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, quoting St. Bernard, that the Bible is “not a written and mute word, but the Word which is incarnate and living” (108).
The Letter to the Hebrews says, “Indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow…” (4:12).
Yes, the Word is alive. Isaiah’s admonition certainly applied to the Chosen People of his day who had gone astray and were under grave threat from Assyrian aggression.
Just so, the prophet’s message applies to the world today — in spades. We have the benefit of the coming of the Messiah, yet the sins of the world multiply such that even the most decadent citizens of the two infamous cities of the Old Testament mentioned above would blush.
Consider what Jesus had to say about those places that rejected His message:
Amen, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.
Mt 10:15
First, we must pray for conversion of hearts, starting with our own. And then pray for the gifts of the Holy Spirit who, we are promised, will not abandon us in times of trouble:
When they take you before synagogues and before rulers and authorities, do not worry about how or what your defense will be or about what you are to say.
For the holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say.
Lk 12:11-12
As the song says, “What the world needs now is love, sweet love.” What (who!) is love? God. And God is truth. And God is life. These are inseparable. And pastoral. A culture of hate, relativism, and death, needs the Lord as much as ever. May we never shy away from being the instruments, the messengers (apostoloi), that our Christian baptism calls us to be. In this challenging calling, we can be heartened to know Christ is with us, leading the way by word and example (from today’s Gospel):
[W]hoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Mt 10:38-39
NO APOLOGIES FOR MARY
But apologetics, for sure. This conversation between Matt Fradd and Tim Staples regarding the four Marian dogmas was providentially recommended by YouTube. I thought I knew a good bit about biblical defenses for the Marian dogmas, but Mr. Staples had me exclaiming “Wow! I never heard that before!” multiple times. I urge you to check out the video. Absolutely rock solid and worthy of hearing, studying, and passing along to friends, doubters or not. It also inspired me to order his book.
By the way, Matt Fradd and Trent Horn should be subscribed to by every Catholic who enjoys podcasts and YouTube and wants to grow in faith and knowledge. These men are doing yeoman’s work in the fields of our Lord.
YESTERDAY’S SERMON
Bishop Barron once again knocks it out of the park with an angle on the Good Samaritan story I’ll bet you never heard. He is a master at opening new horizons on familiar Bible passages. Word on Fire, his ministry, is another one to subscribe to.
Also, his books of sermons are worthy reading, including his latest, already in my library, and available cheap.
Unworthy Servant 