The Ultimate Fulfillment of All Things: Friday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time (RV 20:1-4, 11—21:2; PS 84:3, 4, 5-6A AND 8A; LK 21:29-33)

Our readings today are meant to prepare us for the ultimate fulfillment of all things.  Our Blessed Lord’s establishment of the Eschaton in a perfect way.  The word Eschaton simply means the last things.  In the context of our readings, the Eschaton represents the approach of the end of the world; the resurrection of the body; the general judgment; and the final consummation of all things.

As it says in the Catechism, “Then through his Son Jesus Christ, God will pronounce the final word on all history. We shall know the ultimate meaning of the whole work of creation and of the entire economy of salvation and understand the marvelous ways which His Providence led everything towards its final end.”

While Catholics and non-Catholics would likely agree with everything I have said up to this point, the details of the Eschaton (or the Apocalypse, as it is commonly referred to in Protestant and Evangelical circles) have been the topic of heated debate and the fodder for heresy.  Sometimes, well intentioned Catholics fall for the bad theology of the Apocalypse.  

That is certainly part of my story.  I grew up in a Catholic family, but my extended family were primarily non-Catholic Christians.  I attended their Vacation Bible Schools.  I would often hear them say things through the lens of their Protestant theology.  I remember watching Billy Graham from time to time, and listening to more than one compelling sermon on the Evangelical understanding of the end of the world, particularly one concept that is known as Millenarianism.

The reading from Revelation is the Scripture that is often taken out of context to support the concept of Millenarianism.  Millenarianism is the belief that a Messianic Age will be established on Earth before the Last Judgment; meaning that Jesus will return in the flesh to earth and reign for a literal thousand years before the end of time.  The Catholic Church condemned this heresy in 1944.

For me, the sensational depiction of the Book of Revelation through the lens of this Millenarianism heresy created an unfounded fear within me of the Apocalypse as opposed to a more Catholic approach, namely a loving yearning toward the Eschaton. 

We should realize that the details of the Eschaton are largely a mystery.  Due to the level of mystery, the Church has been very careful to provide definitive interpretations of the Book of Revelation.  Given that, what should we, as pious Catholics, do with this subject?

First, learn my lesson.  Stay away from non-Catholic sources, especially those that claim to have it all figured out.  They don’t…trust me.  Been there, done that.  I have also learned we need to be discerning of some “Catholic” sources.  Again, if they claim to have it all figured out, they don’t.

But, more importantly, we must always endeavor to look at things through the sacramental worldview as opposed to the secular worldview.  Interpreting today’s readings through the secular worldview will almost certainly lead you to conclusions in the vein of raptures, tribulations, marks of the beast, and other apocalyptic symbols.

Instead, embrace the Sacramental worldview, which is really what the Book of Revelation is all about.  The Wedding Feast of the Lamb is the prevalent topic throughout the Book of Revelation, and that should be the primary focus for its interpretation.

Unfortunately, non-Catholics don’t have the Mass.  All they can do is interpret Revelation through the lens they have, which, sadly, is the secular worldview.  Catholics have been given something much greater, the Eucharist.  Christ already reigns on Earth through the Church and the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist.  The Catholic Church is that holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride.  Through the Eucharist, we come to life in its fullest sense.  Through the Church we reign with Christ as we allow Christ to reign over every aspect of our lives.  

As our first pope, Peter, told us in Scripture, “But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day.”  In the Sacramental worldview, today is our thousand years.  Today is our day to witness to Jesus and for the word of God.  We do this with faith.  We do this with faith that through the Mass, we are already participating in the day that non-Catholics can only speculate about.  We do this with faith that through the Mass, the Eschaton (the ultimate fulfillment of all things) is already being made manifest in our midst.  We do this with faith that God is here and lives among his people.

Thanks be to God.

The Joy of Cecilia: Readings for the Memorial of Saint Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr (HOS 2:16bc, 17cd, 21-22; PS 45:11-12, 14-15, 16-17; MATT 25:1-13)

If I may be granted a small indulgence this morning, I pray everyone with a devotion to Saint Cecilia, including my daughter Samantha, will have a joyful and holy feast day.

My faith journey, the awakening of the seeds of Confirmation in my life, in a way, intersected with my daughter’s preparation for Confirmation.  When I learned she selected Saint Cecilia to be her Confirmation saint, I took the opportunity to learn more about the virgin and martyr that absolutely captured the heart of the early Church.  For all intents and purposes, Saint Cecilia was very likely the first saint I became acquainted with in my spiritual journey.

It made sense to me that Samantha, being a very fine musician in her own right, would choose the “Patron Saint of Musicians” to be her Confirmation saint.   Though, I have to admit, I was a bit unprepared to learn the depth of what is behind the title “Patron Saint of Musicians”.

I learned that Saint Cecilia, who had taken a vow of consecration to our Blessed Lord, was known for hearing heavenly music in her heart at a time when she was forced into marriage with a pagan nobleman.  She sang to God in her heart throughout the wedding ceremony.  On the night of her wedding, an angel appeared at her side to protect her virtue and to crown her with a chaplet made of roses and lilies.  

Picture that for a moment.  Can you imagine this level of trust in God’s providence?  Can you imagine this level of trust in God’s protection?  Both of these attributes were on display throughout the life of Saint Cecilia, which truly struck me.

Saint Cecilia lived in a time when true faith in God’s providence and protection was vital to the daily life of a Christian.  She lived in a time marked by war, border incursions, violent riots and rebellion, political instability, economic disruption, trade issues, and currency debasement (which generally occurs when the government artificially creates more money).  I am sure none of that sounds familiar to any of us.  

She lived at a time before Christianity was legalized.  Public displays of faith oftentimes led directly to martyrdom.  At the risk of her own life, she introduced hundreds to Jesus Christ, converting them to the Catholic faith, leading them to be baptized, and accompanying them into the sacramental life of the Church.  Included in those she converted was her husband and his brother, both of whom would later die as martyrs.  

Saint Cecilia cheerfully embraced martyrdom around the year 230.  Her martyrdom came in a fashion that only the “Patron Saint of Musicians” could.  Her martyrdom was exceptionally brutal. She was sentenced to be suffocated in the balnea of her house.  You can think of a balnea as being somewhat similar to a modern-day sauna.  

Saint Cecilia was shut in the balnea for a full day and night with the furnace fed seven times its normal amount of fuel.  During that time, she did not even break a sweat. She was then condemned to be decapitated.  After three blows with the sword, Saint Cecilia was still alive.  She was left to bleed to death on the floor of the balnea.  She finally passed on the third day, but not before converting dozens more as many came to listen to her sing and collect her blood.

In the 9th century, Pope Paschal I had a vision where he saw Saint Cecilia.  She exhorted him to search for her body.  With the information from the vision, Saint Cecilia’s incorrupt body was found in the Catacombs of Saint Callisto, very near to the papal crypt.  She was the first incorrupt saint identified by the Church, an enduring sign of the providence and fidelity of God in all situations.

Her house is now the site of the Basilica of Saint Cecilia in the Trastevere neighborhood of Rome.  Inside the Basilica is her crypt, containing her incorrupt body; along with the remains of the balnea, the site of her martyrdom.   

As we continue to trudge the road of happy destiny, a road full of turbulent political, economic, and social pressures, let us always remember the eternal joy of Saint Cecilia.  A joy that can only come with being in complete harmony with our Blessed Lord.  A joy that comes through trust that the Lord is with us in our suffering and protects us at our darkest hour.  A joy that comes when we truly meet Saint Cecilia and the bridegroom through the wedding feast of the Lamb.

Thanks be to God.

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Remember the Wife of Lot: Friday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time (2 JN 4-9; PS 119:1, 2, 10, 11, 17, 18; LK 17:26-37)

Today’s reading gives us an invitation to reflect on the wife of Lot.  In the story of Genesis, two angels appeared to Lot to warn him of the upcoming destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.  They warned him to flee with his wife and two daughters in order to be saved from the coming destruction.

As Lot and his family escaped destruction, following the narrow path of salvation, if you will, his wife chose to look back.  She looked back to the life she was leaving behind.  She looked back to all the material goods and carnal pleasures she was asked to leave behind in order to be saved.

The consequence of this action is that she was turned into a pillar of salt.  Even though, by every indication in Scripture, she was considered a follower of God, at the moment she was put to the test, it seems she put those things for which she looked back, before God.  

The parallels of Sodom and Gomorrah to the state of the world today cannot be ignored.  We’re continually attacked by human secularism, moral relativism, a flood of other isms that deny the Truth of Jesus Christ.   The Truth the sets us free.   The Truth that offers an escape from the destruction of the secular world.

As we walk the narrow path of salvation through the sacramental life of the Church, we must diligently detach ourselves from those things that are impediments to our relationship with God.

I am not talking about mortal sin, though we certainly need to identify those, repent of them and receive absolution through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  Think of it this way, mortal sin removes us from the narrow path of salvation and places us on the broad road to destruction.  Praise Jesus that the Sacrament of Reconciliation returns us to the narrow path.

Even on the narrow path, we need to be mindful of the fate of Lot’s wife.  We need to identify those things in our lives that hinder true freedom in Christ and hinder the full movement of grace in our life.

Father John A. Hardon, S.J. defines an attachment as follows: “Emotional dependence either of one person on another, or of a person on some real or illusory object …the first condition for progress in sanctity is some mastery over one’s attachments.”

It seems pretty clear in Scripture that Lot’s wife had an emotional dependence on things that God was asking her to leave behind in order to her saved from the destruction…things she needed to leave behind in order to continue to progress in sanctity.  Instead of looking forward to the fulfillment of all her desires that can only be found in God, it seems she could only look back to what she thought she was losing…it seems she could only look back to those things that she thought were the source of her happiness.

So, what are those things in our lives?

The following questions may help us better understand those attachments in our lives that may be preventing us from having the deepest relationship possible with the Lord:

• Am I using created things in excess of my real needs? 

• Do I use things for the purpose for which they were intended? 

• Do I make persons or things ends in themselves rather than as means to a good? 

• We all have coping mechanisms to deal with life.  Are my coping mechanisms based on spiritual realities, or do I rely solely on material things?

An honest and regular reflection of these questions can help us identify attachments and surrender them to the Lord.  This will lead to greater freedom in Christ, greater activation of the charisms we have received from the Holy Spirit, and continued sanctification by ensuring we heed the lesson of the wife of Lot.  Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord.

Thanks be to God!

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Urging out of Love: Thursday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time (PHMN 7-20; PS 146:7, 8-9A, 9BC-10; LK 17:20-25)

Jesus, enthroned in Heaven, doesn’t suffer.  But, He does suffer through us.  I think that can be a comforting thought to keep in mind as we suffer through the wake of this last election cycle and the emotions we may feel as a result of some of the outcomes.

On the one hand, we can be grateful that the Pope’s call to vote for the lesser of two evils was answered.  As Catholics, we have to call a spade a spade and understand that the Trump administration will be supportive of two intrinsic evils, evils that must be resisted by Catholics in good faith.  However, those two intrinsic evils are certainly outweighed by the more than six intrinsic evils that would have been further propagated to the most aggressive extent possible under a Harris administration.

On the other hand, the state of Missouri now has two amendments to the constitution that violate human dignity.  Amendment 2 takes advantage of the weaknesses of human nature for material profit, and of course Amendment 3 reverses the abortion ban and opens the pandora’s box of a whole slew of intrinsic evils under the guise of reproductive health care.

At the national, state, and local levels, there will be much suffering of the children of God, and Jesus will suffer through them.

I’ll just echo the following statement from the Missouri Bishops:

We are saddened that Missouri voters chose not to safeguard vulnerable women and children by voting for Amendment 3. However, this result is not the end of our work. The Catholic Church in Missouri will continue to advocate for policies that uphold the dignity of all human life, protect the vulnerable, and provide support for those in need.

We reaffirm our commitment to walking with mothers and fathers facing unforeseen pregnancies, along with parents facing hardship in their pregnancies. For those women and men who have been wounded by abortion, the Church will continue to provide true hope and healing.

We are grateful to the Catholic faithful, clergy, and all people of good will who worked tirelessly during this campaign to uphold the dignity of life and defend our state’s most vulnerable. They, along with us, remain committed to uphold and proclaim the inherent dignity of all. Let us continue to pray and work for a greater recognition of the gift of each and every human life in our society.

Signed Most Reverend, Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski.

This is the time to truly accept that God permits evil in our lives in order to bring a greater good out of it.  This is the time to truly embrace our identity in Christ, the identity of Christ who suffers through us.  This is the time to forget our regrets over the election, perhaps our demand for justice, and any resentment towards the enemy.   This is the time to truly be an instrument of love and reconciliation to the world.  Ultimately, love and reconciliation is the only way we will ever convert others to the Truth of Jesus Christ.  I urge you to embrace the mission of evangelization with love.

Perhaps those times Jesus spoke about have finally come…the days where we truly long to see one of the days of the Son of Man.  It maybe hard to see at this point, but with faith, we know the Lord will reign forever.

Thanks be to God.

Enemy of the Cross of Christ: Friday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time (PHIL 3:17—4:1; PS 122:1-2, 3-4AB, 4CD-5; LK 16:1-8)

It is easy to feel defeated when we put so much time and effort into a campaign to save lives and protect human dignity, only to be rejected by popular vote.  It is easy to feel defeated when portions of society brazenly celebrate death in the form of Amendment 3.  

We must remember that even if things had gone our way on election day, the battle would have continued.  The true enemy, the enemy of the Cross of Christ, is not of flesh and blood.  The enemy is cunning, baffling, relentless and persistent.  The enemy of the Cross of Christ will stop at nothing to see our spiritual destruction and the undermining (if not outright demise) of the Catholic faith.

The enemy seeks to separate us along the dividing lines of identity groups, economic class, and other secular definitions of what it claims defines a human person.  The reality is that the enemy doesn’t care about the Truth.  The enemy only cares about self.

The political system is the domain of the enemy.  The media is the domain of the enemy.  We can and should fight the enemy on its turf in an attempt to save lives and protect human dignity, but that is not where we are going to win the war.  Ultimately, this war will not be won in Jefferson City nor Washington DC.  This war will only be won on the battlefield of the heart.  

The Church has the battle plan for this type of warfare.  That battle plan can be summed up in one word: Solidarity.  Pope Saint John Paul II defined solidarity as “a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good”.  

Solidarity, as described in the Catechism, enabled the Church to impel souls to the heroic charity of monastic farmers, liberators of slaves, healers of the sick, and messengers of faith, civilization, and science to all generations and all peoples for the sake of creating the social conditions capable of offering to everyone possible a life worthy of mankind and of a Christian.  

Solidarity was the heroic virtue of many of the saints we venerate, including Maximilian Kolbe and Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.  Both had the opportunity to escape death camps, but instead chose martyrdom by witnessing to the virtue of solidarity.  

Solidarity is now the key to protecting human dignity from womb to tomb and unchaining the millions who are imprisoned by the delusional shackles of the enemy.

What must we do?  First, keep praying.  But also, I encourage you to actively reach out to others, especially those in our parish, who feel marginalized.  I encourage you to help them fulfill their desires to have healthy interaction and nurturing relationships within our parish as a whole.  I encourage you to help them exercise their right to participate in our community and fulfill their duty to seek the common good, irrespective of any apparent differences as defined by social norms.  

When we allow ourselves to be defined by false identities of social norms, when we allow those false identities to define our sense of human dignity and self worth, it becomes very difficult to see the Truth.  In that situation, it is very common to reject the Truth (sometimes in a very severe manner) when we are confronted by the Truth.  

But that shell can be melted by love.  It was melted for me, largely by this parish community.  If that shell can be melted for me, it can be melted for the others in our community that desperately need the healing light of Christ in their lives.

In Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, Pope Saint John Paul II said, “Solidarity helps us to see the ‘other’...to be made a sharer, on a par with ourselves, in the banquet of life to which all are equally invited by God. Hence the importance of reawakening the religious awareness of individuals and peoples.”  

This is our opportunity to reach out and walk with someone on their journey with God.  This is our opportunity to be an instrument that makes God’s love visible in the life of another.

According to one parishioner, there are those in our community that feel marginalized, and are afraid to come forward.  If that describes you…if you sit among us, but feel unwelcomed, feel as though you don’t have a place, my heart truly bleeds for you. But, please know, you are not alone, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

To echo the infamous cry of Pope Saint John Paul II, “Do Not Be Afraid”.  I don’t care what your politics are.  I don’t care how you identify yourself.  I don’t care how society has defined your dignity and worth.  Please come forward.  Let me see you.  Let me hear your story.  Let me know how God is at work in your life.  Let’s together find true peace and healing that can only be found in the love of Christ.   

Abortion and a whole slew of other intrinsic evils may now be enshrined in our state constitution under the guise of reproductive health care, but the battle is far from over.  As Archbishop Fulton Sheen said, “Evil may have its hour, but God will have His day.”  

Now, perhaps more than ever, is the time to be a source of healing and of God’s merciful love to those who have fallen for the lies of secular humanism, those who have been victimized, marginalized, and imprisoned by the enemy of the Cross of Christ.  Now is the time to meet them on the battlefield of the heart, not as a judge, but as a conduit for the conforming love of Jesus Christ.

Thanks be to God!

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Follow The Greatest Commandment: Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time (Dt 6:2-6; Ps 18:2-3, 3-4, 47, 51; Heb 7:23-28; Mk 12:28b-34)

When the scribe asks Jesus which commandment of the law is the greatest, one might have expected Jesus to reply with the First Commandment…which is ”I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before me.”  In fact, I suspect it might have been quite a surprise to the group of listeners that Jesus doesn’t mention any of the Ten Commandments.  

I think that is because the Ten Commandments (along with the precepts of the Church) represent the bare minimum requirement to have a relationship with God.  Objectively speaking,  if we don’t live the Ten Commandments, we fall into in a state of mortal sin.  In a state of mortal sin, we are cut off from the grace of God by our own sinful actions.

At the same time, simply living the Ten Commandments won’t necessarily make us holy.  I think this is the perspective Jesus brings to the conversation when He refers to the She’ma as the greatest commandment.  She’ma is the Hebrew word for hear or listen. The She’ma is the great prayer from the Old Covenant that was as important to the first century Jews as the “Our Father” is to Catholics.  Our reading has the She’ma translated in english: “Listen O’ Israel, the Lord our God is Lord alone!  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.”

As it indicates in the Catechism, the call of Christ in the life of the Catholic is to a radical reorientation of our whole life, a return, a conversion to God with all our heart, an end of sin, a turning away from evil, with repugnance toward evil actions. At the same time, a life in Christ entails the desire and resolution to change one's life, with hope in God's mercy and trust in the help of his grace.

Have you ever wondered what the world might look like if we truly followed the greatest commandment?  If we were to truly put God first?  If we were to put God before money?  If we were to put God before sports?  If we were to put God before our careers?  If we were to put God before our lust?  And perhaps the toughest, if we were to put God before politics?

There are so many things we don’t get right about loving God.  On the one hand we say that we love God and we want Him in our lives.  But on the other hand, we often tell God that He has to stay here in the Church and that He can’t rule over the other aspects of our lives.  

Some of us proudly declare ourselves to be pro-choice, ignoring that the giving and taking of life is really for God alone.  In Church we’ll say “Thy will be done”’, but once we leave here we start singing the tune “I Did It My Way.”

If we have such disrespect for God and His law, it is no wonder that we have troubles loving our neighbors.  If we can’t give the creator of the universe, the creator of each and every one of us, the proper respect, I guess it should be of no surprise that we have troubles giving our neighbors their due respect, let alone truly loving them exactly as God made them and as God has asked us to love them.

Have you ever wondered what the world might look like if we chose to focus on the best in each other as opposed to findings and exploiting the smallest flaws?  If we were to truly show respect and love for those who seem to be different from us?  To reach out to and embrace those who feel marginalized?  To truly accept people exactly as God created them as opposed to telling them they are not good enough unless they “transition” into what society says they should be?  What might the world look like without that prejudice, bias, and hatred?

Although, to be fair, what Jesus actually said is to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.  It is pretty evident that the current level of self-love out there is pitifully low.  Just look at all the self-destructive behaviors and lifestyles that people commonly lead.  All of the variety of dysphorias, all of the variety of addictions, all of the variety of anorexias; not to mention the other psychological disorders…many of which stem from a deep interior self-hatred.  A hatred of what God created.  A hatred of that which is in the image of God.  A hatred of that which God declared is good.  A hatred that is fueled by the standards of our secular society.   Considering all of that, should we be surprised at the deterioring state of our society?

We must always remember that our dignity is not found in the secular definitions of the human person.  Our dignity is not found by “properly classifying” someone in a prison that was formed by some identity think-tank.   Our dignity is found only in the fact that we were created in ‘the image of God’:  the human body, animated by a spiritual soul, at the very moment of conception.  The whole human person, from womb to tomb, is intended to be a temple of the Holy Spirit, in the body of Christ.

We must allow Divine Love to totally consume us.  We must allow Divine Love to transform us from the image that has been defined by the secular order to the pure ‘image of God’, purging us of anything and everything that is not of God.  Any false identity that has been placed on us by society must be renounced and surrendered to the Lord.  Any false values that conflict with the ultimate Truth of  Jesus Christ, must be renounced and surrendered to the Lord.

This transformation, not only allows us to have a life that is truly happy, joyous, and free, but more importantly, prepares us for the ultimately communion with the Holy Trinity.  

The Christian life consists in living to the full the grace of Baptism, in the total gift of self to the Love of the Father, in order to live like Christ, in the fire of the Holy Spirit, and through His love for others.

There is one moment mentioned in the Catechism that we should all look forward to participating in.  The Father's power 'raised up' Christ his Son and by doing so perfectly introduced his Son's humanity, including His Body (that’s us), into the Trinity.

The mechanism for this is ultimately through the Eucharist and authentically living the Sacramental life of the Catholic Church.  But, the Sacraments can only be as efficacious as our disposition toward receiving them, willing them with the right intention, and ultimately surrendering in true conformance to the Truth of Jesus Christ.

If we prefer to put the standards of the secular society above the Truth of Jesus Christ, the Truth as He teaches it through His Holy Catholic Church; then we are not following the greatest commandment.  If we choose to embrace the lies of human secularism over the reality of the Catholic faith, particularly as it relates to preserving human dignity in the image of God; then we are not following the greatest commandment.

Freedom and choice detached from Truth is not freedom and choice.  If we are to obey the greatest commandment, then we must be willing to be fully conformed to the Truth of Jesus Christ.  Only the Truth will set us free.

At some point each of us should ask ourselves why we are Catholic.  If the answer isn’t to completely surrender our entire personal identity over to be completely transformed into the image of Christ, then we should ask we.  That is how we pick up our cross and follow our Lord to the Kingdom of God.

Thanks be to God!

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