Posts

Posted on

Ask Fr. Leo – Body of Christ or Body of Jesus?

Dear Fr. Leo

When we distribute communion we say, “The Body of Christ. “We don’t say “The Body of Jesus.” So, when we are in Adoration do we say we are in the presence of Christ or Jesus? – V

Dear V:

Great question. The short answer is that we are essentially talking about the same guy.  However, language is important. The very precise language that the Church uses is “Corpus Christi” (the Body of Christ). This makes sense when we are talking about the Eucharist because it avoids confusion about the enormity of the reality of what and who we are receiving. When we receive Holy Communion, we are receiving the complete reality Jesus Christ, crucified, died, risen and ascended. Simply saying “The Body of Jesus” lends itself to identifying just the reality of the historical Jesus. The reality of Christ, and the reality of the Eucharist is much larger.  It is a transhistorical reality, not limited by time and space, or even the laws of physics for that matter. When we receive the Eucharist, we are actively participating in the entirety of who Christ is and who the Church is.

Saying “The Body of Christ” also avoids an age-old heresy that holds that what one is receiving is the physical body of Jesus (Ewww!). The sacramental reality of Christ truly and substantially present in the Eucharist operates in a different way. The term “transubstantiation” helps us to understand what is going on.

Let me get a little philosophical with you. Using Greek philosophical categories, all persons and things are made up of two things. First, there is what they are in and of themselves. We call this their “identity” or “essence” or “substance.”  Second is their physical attributes.  What a person or thing looks like. It’s height, depth, length, mass, shape, texture, etc.  We call this a thing’s “attributes” or “existence” or “accidents” Think of yourself for example. You have always been you and no one else. This is your identity, essence, substance. But your physical attributes are quite different now than when you were a child. Your body has matured along with all of your physical attributes. This are your attributes, existence, accidents. Your substance is the same, but your accidents have changed over time.  Your identity is the same. It is your attributes that are different.

In the best way we have come up with so far to describe what goes on in the Eucharist, this process is reversed.  In the Eucharist, it is the substance which changes, not the accidents. It still looks like bread, tastes like bread, smells like bread, but through the power of the Holy Spirit through the prayer of the Church, in its essence or substance, it is transformed into the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ. It is this process of “transubstantiation” wherein the substance is changed, but the accidents remain the same. 

Finally, saying “The Body of Christ’ helps emphasize the further reality of the Eucharist in that who we are is joined at the same level of being with Christ and every other person in full communion with the Church. This includes not only the saints, triumphant in heaven, but also those being purified in purgatory and all the rest of us still on our pilgrim journey in the Church here on earth. 

So, in sum, the Eucharist is a huge reality, encompassing not only our participation in the passion, death, resurrection, ascension of Christ, and the sending of the Holy Spirit, but also our communion at the very level of being with Christ and all the Church.  Saying “The Body of Christ” emphasizes and encompasses all of these sacred mysteries in which we participate.  It’s a big deal. 

That the reality of the dynamic presence of Christ in the Mass. However, his true and substantial presence does not go away when Mass is over. We reserve the Blessed Sacrament for three reasons: first, to take it to the dying; second, to take it to the sick; and third, for adoration by the faithful.

Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament really is a little slice of heaven. Think about it. What is heaven but to be in the true presence of Christ forever. What is adoration, but to be in the true presence of Christ for a time. But if we understand the expansive nature of the reality of the Eucharist, then we are also in the presence of the Mystical Body of Christ as well. That means that when we kneel in adoration, we acknowledge our union with all the angels and saints as well. It is heady stuff. No wonder we spend so much time on our knees.

Posted on

A Practical Paradox

     St. Luke must have been an interesting guy. We don’t know much about him personally, but based on what we do have, I gather that he must have been a bit of a renaissance man. He was at once a doctor, an artist, an historian, and an author, among other things. I also get the idea that he was a very practical man.

       A good example of this is his presentation of Jesus’ teaching commonly known as “the Beatitudes.” Unlike Matthew who has nine, Luke only has four. Luke also has an accompanying “woe” for each beatitude. Why is this teaching of Our Lord so important to Luke?

       Perhaps it’s because as a physician and an historian, it was very important for him to highlight the practicality of Jesus’ teaching. Matthew was a Jew writing to other Jews.  Luke on the other hand, was a Gentile writing to other Gentiles. As such, he tailors his message to his audience. Luke knew about the deepest desires of people in the Greek and Roman societies of his day. He also knew that such desires were often as out of reach for most as the pagan gods to whom they were obligated to pay homage. The great fears of the day were poverty, hunger, death and persecution.

       It was in just such a social and spiritual environment that the paradox of the Paschal Mystery could bring hope. This paradox is expressed clearly in the Lucan beatitudes and woes. It is the poor who are blessed; the hungry, the mourners, the persecuted. In his life and ministry as well as in his passion, death and resurrection, Jesus had experienced all of these things and emerged triumphant and glorious. For the pagan Greeks and Romans, the good news was that there was a better way. That the limits of this world, including even death itself, no longer had the final say, and thus has no lasting power over us in this life or the next. Christ has shown us that our final destiny is far greater, far more triumphant, far more glorious, as we enter into communion with the Divine in this life and into the next.

       As human beings, we are made by God, for God. Our Deepest longings can only be satisfied by God.  We are all born with what Ron Rolheiser calls a “holy longing” that can only satisfied by communion with God.

Sadly, though, so many try to fill that holy longing for God with the very things Our Lord says will bring us woe: wealth, pleasure, power, and honor. None of these are bad in and of themselves, but if we place them in our heart before God, they will lead to our ultimate destruction. 

       The Christian knows that when Christ is the center of one’s being:

              Wealth finds its expression in charity.

              Pleasure is found in feeding the hungry

              Power is used in service to others.

              Honor comes from leading others to glory.

Thus, the paradox. blessed are the poor, blessed are the the hungry, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are those who are persecuted.

       Things have not changed all that much in the last 2000 years.  Our way of doing things has changed, but we humans still seek ultimate meaning and the revelation of our final destiny. We still have the same fears and desires; and these fears and desires are still overcome by the power of Christ’s passion, death and resurrection.

       Luke helps us to see that salvation is still a practical matter. Despite the passage of time, we humans have not changed all that much, and neither has the salvation won for us in Christ so that we may enter into the realm of the Blessed. 

Posted on

Every Nation on Earth

Merry Christmas, Day 12! Today (and tomorrow) we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany. As we do every year, we get   Matthew’s gospel account of the Magi coming to visit the Holy Family in Bethlehem. These Magi are interesting characters.  We really don’t know how many of them there actually were, but pious tradition has settled on three, given that they brought three types of gifts. I’ve spoken before about how the gifts represent that Jesus was a king (gold), a priest (frankincense), and how both of these would be manifested in his passion, death and resurrection (myrrh).  Let’s chat a little about the Magi themselves and what they represent.

First, they are not kings. That notion developed over time in art and popular piety over the centuries for a variety of reasons.  But strictly they are magi. Magi were interesting folks. They were scholars and astrologers who looked to the heavens to discern what was going on in the world. Interestingly enough, about the time of Christ’s birth, the planet Jupiter, which represented kings, moved into Aries, the constellation that represented Israel at that time. This would make sense to magi, but would probably have gone unnoticed by others. 

Also very notable is the fact that they are all Gentiles.    Matthew saw them as the first fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah in today’s first reading, as well as echoing today’s     Responsorial in Psalm 72, “Lord every nation on earth will adore you.” In time, the characteristics of the magi in artistic expression, such as their skin color and their style of dress, have them representing the three known continents of Europe, Asia and Africa. This was a way to help people understand, as Paul says very clearly in today’s second reading from      Ephesians, “that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”  The good news is truly universal in scope.

Finally, the magi also help show us that the nature of the Kingdom which Christ ushers in is very different than any earthly Kingdom. Sadly, Herod, being the despot that he is  misses this point entirely. Like so many rooted in the world, he sees Jesus as a threat, not as a Savior.

The world has changed quite a bit since a long time ago in a Galilee far, far away.  Sadly, human nature has not. Thus, those of us who understand who Jesus really is have the     special task of making him known to the world of today. Wise men still seek him.  May we all have the grace to be heralds of the good news.

Posted on

Learning from the Holy Family

Merry Christmas, Day 5!  

     Many of you know Deacon Jim Lee and his wife Mireya. Deacon Jim is more or less retired from the deacon biz now, but I always appreciated his homilies. I remember him preaching once on this very Feast of the Holy Family many years ago. He was chatting about his own family and quipped,  “I used to wish that my kid would be more like Jesus. Then I realized that my kid would probably be more like Jesus if I were more like St. Joseph.” 

  As we celebrate the Feast of the Feast Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, we can learn a lot from them on how we can each be “holy families.” 

  They faithfully practiced their faith — The scriptures tell us that the Holy Family did all the things a good, pious Jewish family would do…and more. They were faithful to the Law when they dedicated him in the Temple. We see today in Luke how they would go up to Jerusalem each year for the Passover. Something Jesus did well into adulthood all the way up to  the end of his public ministry when he celebrated the Passover with his disciples in the Upper Room at the Last Supper. 

  They were each open to the will of God—Each member had to grapple with what God was asking them and then go forward living their lives accordingly.  Mary was probably envisioning a very different life with Joseph when the angel Gabriel announced to her that she would be the mother of the Savior. Yet, she responded in faith, saying, “Let it be done to me according to your will.”  Joseph also had to change his plans when Gabriel told him that it was by the Holy Spirit that Mary had conceived. Then again, when he was told to flee into Egypt…and again when they returned to Nazareth. Finally, in his agony in the garden, Jesus asked that this cup might pass, but in the end said, “Not my will, but yours be done.”

  They dealt with hardship and kept their faith in God and in each other—The circumstances of his birth in the stable and becoming political refugees fleeing from Herod are just two examples.  I am particularly struck by how the Blessed Mother remained with Jesus all the way through his passion and death on the Cross. Even later, she stayed the course and remained with the disciples in the Upper Room. She was with the disciples in the Upper Room at Pentecost. 

  There are many, many other examples of how the Holy Family can teach us holiness, but let’s go with these three for now.

First, let us practice our faith.

Now, you have heard me say a few times this year that to be Catholic in the United States these days is to be countercultural.

  Sometimes we may think that this is a recent phenomenon, but it has ALWAYS been so.   

  So, how can we live our faith in today’s world?  Pretty simple really.  The Church sanctifies three things: people, places and time. To sanctify someone or something, means to set it aside for God.  Each household, such as it is, should do the same. 

  1. Realize that you have been sanctified by your baptism.  You are a holy people, a holy family, a household of grace, set aside by God for the sanctification of the world.  And if not the whole world, then at least that little part of the world which with come into contact each day.  Be the animators of grace in your neighborhood.
    • This season, or next, put up a manger scene in your yard.  John Thomas Williamson has a really cool one that he came up with made out of plywood and a few lights.  It is really cool. If we are nice to him, maybe he will share with us the plans so we can each have one next year.  Imagine the difference that would make? 
    • Sanctify space: Where does prayer happen in your home every day?  You have a place to eat, a place to sleep, a place to watch TV, hopefully a place for your vehicle.  Where is the space set aside for prayer each day?  Get creative. 
    • Sanctify time: 
      • When does prayer happen each day in the home.  This will change as the life within the home changes.  Prayers that once took place at bedtime may move to right after dinner as the household gathers around the dinner or moves into the family room for a quick decade of the Rosary. 
      • Celebrate the holy seasons and feasts of the Church as part of the life of the home. Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, feast days of the patron saints of members of household. 

2. Living our faith and building that deep relationship with Christ and one another allows us to be open to the will of God for each member of our family.

In doing so, we are able recognize the gifts of others in the household and encourage those gifts to be used in a way that is pleasing to the giver within the family and the Church for the greater glory of Almighty God.

For ten years I was the Vocations Director for the Archdiocese.  Do you know what the greatest biggest obstacle was for those who were discerning a vocation to the priesthood or religious life? 

Parents. Specifically fathers who wanted their family name carried on and mothers who wanted grandchildren.

Now, neither of these are bad things, but if they are not the will of God for your child, you are doing them a great disservice and will find yourself fighting against God himself. Personally, I would not want to be in that position. You want your kid to be happy? Want the same thing that God wants for them. You’ll be glad you did. Celebrate each others gifts and vocation within the family and within the Church…for the world.

3. Finally, if we live our faith, if we are open to the will of God, then we are we may bear hardships that lead us and those around us to salvation.

  I’ve said it many times. 

       Life is messy…and…God is faithful. 

You can count on it.

       Still, I cannot say how I have been inspired and lifted up by those who seem to be going through the worst of times.  Yet through it all, they literally glow with the light of faith.

       It is real and it is undeniable. 

       It was true for the Holy Family, who seemed to know no end of hardship in those early years.

       Why would it not be true for us also? 

The world and everything and everyone in it has limits.

       Sometimes those limits manifest themselves in very tragic and troubling ways.   So what?!

  We have God and one another. 

  I know a woman who has had cancer two times, who has a 6’4” autistic son, who sometimes is more than a handful, and who by many measures of the world has had more than her share of heartbreak and hardship.

  And yet she radiates a joy that is unmistakable. 

       When I asked her about it once, she said, “Well, you just have to realize that you are held.”

And so we return to the Holy Family

  As Jesus was held in the arms of Mary and Joseph so too each of us is held precious in the arms of a loving God.

  So let US be a holy family.

Let us practice our faith with courage and constancy,

  Let us celebrate each other’s gifts for the glory of Almighty God

       So that none of the troubles of this world or of anyone in it can ever separate us the love of God or one another.

Posted on

The Morality of Capital Punishment

Dear Fr. Leo:

     What does the Church teach about the morality of capital punishment? – G

Dear G:

     In Alaska, we do not have the death penalty, so the question is academic, but it is one well-worth asking.

     In looking at the morality of capital punishment it helps to first understand the purpose of any punishment in general, next to see how that plays out in the criminal justice system, and finally evaluate whether capital punishment makes sense within that framework.

     In general, punishment has three main goals.  First, to bring a cessation to the offending activity; second, to reform the offender, and third, to restore the moral order, i.e., to satisfy the demands of justice.

     Let’s take an example from family life. Melissa is a 16 year-old girl. She has a curfew of 12:00 Midnight, because as we all know, nothing good happens after midnight in this town.  One night Melissa comes in at 1:00 AM. Even though she tried to sneak in through the garage, Mom and Dad are waiting. She is busted big time. The next evening at a family meeting, her parents explain to her and the other kids the seriousness of the violation, why a curfew is important and to impose a suitable punishment.    Melissa is grounded for one day for every minute she was late, or sixty days. Melissa apologizes to the members of the family and accepts her punishment. At the end of this time, her parents meet with her to discuss the matter one last time and ask what she has learned as a result. Melissa responds that not long after she was grounded some of her friends went to a party where bad things happened and got into a car wreck at about 2:00 AM. In light of that, she states that she has come to appreciate the benefits of the curfew and will not break it again. 

     In this idyllic scenario, we see that all the goals of punishment have been achieved. The offending behavior has ceased, the offender is reformed, and by her being grounded for a fitting amount of time, the demands of justice have been met.

     You can see how these same principles apply to law enforcement and the criminal justice system. If someone commits a crime, law enforcement arrests them, and their guilt is determined by the court, either by admission or by trial. If they admit guilt or are found guilty, the judge has sentencing guidelines for various offenses given the circumstances under which they were committed.

     The death penalty is usually reserved for the most heinous of crimes, namely brutal murders.  Let’s see how it measures up. Regarding the first criteria, it is rather definitive.  One cannot murder again if one is dead. However, upon further reflection, it does not do so well with the second two criteria. Putting the offender to death simply removes the offender from society. There is no possibility of reform. Finally, there are serious questions about how well the death penalty serves the demands of justice.  There are three things (among others) to consider here. First, given the expense of legal appeals which can continue for decades, condemning someone to death costs society several times more than sentencing them to life in prison without parole.  We must ask ourselves if such a high cost to society is justified.  Second, it has been shown that the death penalty does not bring closure for friends and family members of the victim. Ironically, the results are often the opposite. Often families of the victim feel that the offender got the easy way out. They have to deal with the loss of their loved one for the rest of their lives, but the murderer does not. Finally, even now, society does not necessarily possess the means to ensure that an innocent person will not be executed. The recent examples of DNA testing exonerating a person on death row are too numerous to ignore.

      All practical arguments aside, for the Christian, capital punishment eliminates the possibility of the grace of repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation. We cannot ignore the example of Our Lord and the countless examples throughout history where those who have committed even the most heinous of crimes have come to faith and even reconciled with the families of their victims. One great example of this is the case between Colonel Herbert Kappler, the Nazi commander of the occupational forces in Rome and Msgr. Hugh O’Flaherty, whom he tried (unsuccessfully) to have assassinated multiple times. At the end of the war, for his many war crimes, Kappler was sentenced to life without parole in Regina Caeli Prison. For years he had only one visitor. Fourteen years later, Col. Kappler entered the Catholic Church and was baptized by none other than his sole visitor, Msgr. Hugh O’Flaherty. The film, The Scarlet and the Black, (1983) starring Christopher Plummer and Gregory Peck tells the story, as well as a number of books.

     Such Christian hope is reflected in the Catechism, #2267. While noting that in the past, the death penalty was seen as a legitimate means of protecting society, in these times more effective means of detention are available which ensure the due protection of citizens but, at the same time, do not definitively deprive the guilty of the possibility of redemption.

     Consequently, the Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person”, and she works with determination for its abolition worldwide.

Posted on

Advent – Hope and Joy!

You know, in my life as an Ecumenist, both on the theological and the practical side, I have worked with folks from every denomination and major world religion.  One of the side effects is that when one enters into dialogue with others, you gain a real appreciation for your own tradition.

…I really like being Catholic. 

One of the great things about being Catholic is that how we see every part of life as touched by Almighty God. We sanctify everything: people, places…and time. As we enter int Advent this week, I’m going to concentrate on how we sanctify time.

We have holy hours, holy days, (ergo the word “Holiday”), Holy Week, and holy seasons.   In many ways this makes us counter cultural. 

While secular America has just entered “the Holiday Season”, we enter into the Holy Season of Advent. For us Catholics and many protestants, the Christmas season proper does not begin until the Vigil Mass on Christmas Eve and continues until the Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord. on January 12th.

But before we get there, we have this wonderful season of expectation, preparation, repentance, and hope. 

Most people may know that the Advent season focuses on expectation and think that it serves as an anticipation of Christ’s birth in the season leading up to Christmas. This is part of the story, but there’s so much more to Advent.

       The word “Advent” is derived from the Latin word adventus, meaning “coming,” which is a translation of the Greek word parousia (παρουσία). During the 4th and 5th centuries in Spain and Gaul, Advent was a season of preparation for the baptism of new Christians in January on the feast of the Epiphany, the manifestation of Christ’s humanity and divinity by the visit of the Magi to the child Jesus, his baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist, and his first miracle at Cana. During this season of preparation, sometimes called St. Martin’s Lent, since it began on November 11th, the Feast of St. Martin, early Christians would spend 40 days in penance, prayer, and fasting to prepare for this celebration.

       By the 6th century, however, the Church in Rome had tied Advent to the coming of Christ. Pope Gregory the Great in the late 6th/early 7th century composed many of the prayers, antiphons, and psalm responses. But the “coming” they had in mind was not Christ’s first coming in the manger in Bethlehem, but his second coming in glory at the end of the age. It was not until the Middle Ages that the Advent season was explicitly linked to Christ’s first coming at Christmas.

       These days, the first three weeks of Advent focus on our preparation for Christ’s second coming in glory. Then, in the last week of Advent, we shift the focus to our preparation for his first coming in humility.

       The readings each Sunday reinforce this. Today, we hear the prophet Jeremiah remind us that the days are coming when the Lord will fulfill his promise to send the Messiah

       Paul exhorts us to conduct ourselves in a way that is pleasing to God.

       And finally, Our Lord himself tells us that when he comes again in glory, we should stand erect and raise our head, for our redemption is at hand. Indeed, the trials and tribulations that he mentioned seem all too present sometimes. Thus, we need to remain vigilant so that we may recognize him at his coming. 

       And he may find us waiting in joyful hope.

How we keep the Holy Season of Advent not only helps us do so, but it can be a lot of fun.

Be counter cultural! 

This year, why not make Advent something special.  Here’s some ideas

  • Get an Advent Wreath. 
  • Celebrate the Sundays of Advent and the major saints and feasts:
  • St. Andew’s Christmas Novena
  • St. Nicholas Day, 6 December
  • Immaculate Conception, Holy Day Dec. 9th
  • Our Lady of Guadalupe, 12 December
  • St. Lucy Day, 13 Dec
  • Go to Confession!  Get your spiritual house in order.
  • Fun stuff to do in Advent
    • Advent Wreathes
    • Jesse Trees – an example in the Narthex
    • Advent Calendars
    • O Antiphons
  • Have the Wise Men travel across the living room a little each day, until they finally reach the manger on January 6th.
  • Once you’ve set up your Manger, (of Baby Jesus won’t go in there until Christmas), have a little pile of straw nearby. Every times someone in the house does a good deed, put a piece of straw in the manger so that Jesus may have a comfortable bed when he arrives .
  • Clean out your closet and give something to the Warm Clothing Drive.
  • Go to Formed.org for videos, podcasts and Advent resources.

Advent is a time of expectation, preparation, repentance, and hope. 

      For the first three weeks we prepare for his second coming in glory at the end of the age. In the last week, we shift our focus as we prepare to celebrate his first coming in humility. 

      Be counter cultural! Get ready!  Have fun! So that when Our Lord comes…

however he comes,

he may find us ready to welcome him

standing erect, with our heads held high,

filled with hope and joy.

Posted on

What Does a Do King Anyway?

     The feast of Christ the King is always a bit puzzling for us Americans. Since we do not have any practical experience of a king, our notions of royalty are principally governed by our observations of the British royal family, (a most puzzling institution), or from fairy tales. Thus, our perception (rightly and wrongly) is that it is either irrelevant or the stuff of fantasy. Either way, we are left wondering what this “king” thing is all about.

It helps to remember what kings and sovereignty are really all about. In the best sense, as sovereign, the king was a messiah, an anointed of God, ordained as steward over the land as well as everything and everyone on it. If he understood his vocation well, he understood that he was not an owner, but a steward. Thus, at the end of his life, he would be judged by whether the land and the people thrived or not. To carry out this duty, he was given authority. But just as in the Church, that authority only made sense if it was used in the context of service to those in his realm. To act in his own interest was to become a despot. It was an abuse of the gift of authority from God.

So when we speak of Christ, the King of the Universe, first we are saying that he has been given authority by God over all of creation. That means everything and everybody; and by his life, death, resurrection and ascension to the Father, where he makes intercession for us, he continues to be the ultimate steward and servant. Truly, he is the greatest among us because he is the servant of all. 

It’s a good reminder for us on many levels. Our Lord has our best interests in mind and will do all that he can for our salvation in this life and into the next. Should we allow him to reign in our hearts and lives, there is no limit to how much we can love him and others in return. May we have the grace and humility to make it so.  

Posted on

The End is Near! So what?!

I was amused to read that a study done by an independent think tank had determined that because of the culture of gun ownership, geographic isolation and a number of other factors, Alaska is considered to be most likely to survive a zombie apocalypse. Good to know.

I’ve never understood the popularity of the whole zombie phenom. Or rather, I understand it, I just think it is a sad and tragic commentary on the secular humanism that is so prevalent in our country.

Simply put, modern secular humanism has trouble dealing with the mystery of death. Still, because human beings are comprised of a body and a soul, every fiber of our being cries out for some sort of reality beyond this present one.  Rejecting any concept of life after death, and thus, the resurrection of the dead, inevitably leaves one bereft of hope. If all one can hope for in this life is what is before us, then the future is bleak indeed. As a result, any depiction of life after death becomes a caricature of the resurrection of the dead and life everlasting…reanimated tissue…the undead…zombies…ewwww!

Christ reveals a better destiny for humanity. For the Christian, while powerful in its unfolding, the end of the age is not a scary thing. Rather it is the fulfillment of all our hopes and deepest desires. To be a human being is a marvelous thing. We are body and soul. In the resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come, we become what God has created us to be — perfectly human, body and soul. In this light, St. Ambrose actually speaks of death as a remedy rather than a curse, for it is through dying that we are born to eternal life. Sin separated us from God, but for the righteous, death unites us with God forever. The resurrection of the body is the completion of this reality and the fulfillment of our ultimate destiny of perfect communion, body and soul, with God. 

The temptation is to see the resurrection as some distant future reality.  But in truth, it is a reality unfolding in the present moment of the life of every Christian. Even now we are growing in communion with Christ and one another; and so even now we are becoming what God has created us to be. Thus, the Kingdom of God is very much in our midst.

May we have the grace to be people of the resurrection now, so that others may come to know the grace of God in their lives and enter into that same communion of Grace.

Posted on

Softball Questions

    I can’t wait for the election to be over. That being said, I once again remind you of your civic and moral obligation to vote an informed conscience.  That means becoming familiar with the seven pillars of Catholic Social Teaching, you inform yourself about where the candidates and ballot issues fall within that context and vote a well-informed conscience.

Watching candidate interviews can be helpful sometimes. Still I am amazed at the softball questions candidates will get from certain journalists.

Jesus never ran for office, but he did get some softball questions. In his exchange with the scribe in today’s gospel reading, he gets what appears to be a high, hanging curveball that any rabbi could knock out of the park: “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Any seven year old Jewish kid would have gotten this right. It’s like asking a Catholic kid, “What is the first line of the Our Father?”

Is the scribe just being easy on Jesus? Not really. It helps to understand the method of scholarship that was used in those  days. It was a simple process designed to help those involved delve more deeply into the meaning of the sacred texts. There were typically at least three stages. First, someone would ask a question that everyone knew so that they could locate themselves in the text. Next, the one who responded would take that text and provide an insight or connection to something else in the scriptures.  Then the one who initially asked would respond in a like manner.  The process continued until they felt they had exhausted the possibilities. 

This is exactly what the scribe and Jesus are doing. The unique thing is that Jesus connects the concept of the first text, love of God (Deut. 6), with the command to love one’s neighbor as yourself found in Leviticus 19:18. The latter is a pretty obscure text. By linking the two, Jesus shows that he knows the law better than just about anybody in the room. (Which, I suspect is why no one had the courage to ask more questions!)  He also gives us the Great Commandment for all time where love of God and love of neighbor as oneself can never be separated.  The scribe sees the wisdom of his answer. May we have the same grace and wisdom in our lives.

Hey, 60 trips around the sun! What fun. In Alaska, that means we get a permanent hunting/fishing license! Life is good.

Posted on

Ask Fr. Leo – Christians in the Military? Why only Pilate in the Creed?

Dear Fr. Leo,

     Can a Christian be in the military?  What about the fifth commandment?  – G

Dear G,

     The quick answer is, “Yes, but only for the right reasons.”  Christian soldiers do not wage war indiscriminately. Rather, they are the agents of peace in the maintenance of legitimate self-defense. 

     The question is one of the oldest moral conundrums in the Church. It came to the fore in the early 4th century soon after the emperor Constantine legalized Christianity in 313 A.D. By the beginning of the 5th century, Christianity was the official religion of the Empire. Things came to a head after the pagan armies sacked Rome in 410. Many had written on the subject before, but it was St. Augustine, in his classic work on religion and civil society, The City of God, who gave us the definitive articulation. Augustine said that Christians actually make the best soldiers because they only fight in just wars. Augustine’s articulation of what constitutes a just war still sets the context for public policy today. (See the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 2302-2317, Safeguarding Peace.) The taking up of arms for legitimate self-defense is only justified if all of the following conditions are met:

– the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain;

– all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective;
– there must be serious prospects of success;
– the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. the power of modem means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition. (CCC, par. 2309).  

The catechism goes on to say that only those with legitimate authority, namely, national governments have the responsibility of determining if these conditions are met. By the same token, governments may impose upon their citizens the obligations of defense. In times of national crisis, they can draft people into military service. In doing so, “Those who are sworn to serve their country in the armed forces are servants of the security and freedom of nations. If they carry out their duty honorably, they truly contribute to the common good of the nation and the maintenance of peace.” (CCC, par. 2310) 

     At the same time the Church is very clear that governments must also make allowances for those who in conscience cannot take up arms. However, “these are nonetheless obliged to serve the human community in some other way.” (CCC, par. 2311)

     In sum, Christians can and do serve honorably in the armed services, but they do so, not as “hawks” or aggressors, but under certain conditions and according to a strict moral code. Nations have a legitimate right to self-defense, but war is always the last resort when all other peaceful means of resolution of conflict have been exhausted. In the meantime, we all have an obligation to work actively to build up a more peaceful world, in our homes, in our parishes, our schools, and our communities so that armed conflict becomes not only unnecessary, but truly unthinkable. 

Dear Fr. Leo:

     Why is only Pontius Pilate named for his role in Christ’s crucifixion in our creed?  Why are the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes who persecuted, plotted, and paid blood money for Christ’s crucifixion not named?  – T

Dear T,

     That’s a good question. In fact, we could even take it even a step further. Why not name all of us other sinners as well? If you think about, we all had a role to play in the sufferings of Christ. That being said, I like the distinction you make that it was the religious authorities at that time, and not the whole Jewish people, who had a central role in the Passion of Christ.

     But in point of fact, the wording of the Nicene Creed has less to do with what went on at the time of Jesus than what was going on at the time the Creed was written. When the bishops met at Nicaea in 325 A.D, they were faced with the first major dogmatic crisis in the Church. The priest, Arius, a good Greek well-versed in the Greek philosophers, could not get his head around the notion that Jesus was truly human and truly divine. As a result, he rejected the divinity of Christ. He gained quite a following and caused much confusion and conflict in the Church. To resolve the matter, the emperor called a Council. Long story short, with the help of St. Leo the Great, the council fathers affirmed that while truly human, Christ was at the same time “of the same substance” as the Father. Furthermore, it was the whole Christ, not just half of him, who redeemed us by his suffering on the Cross, and who glorified us by his resurrection. I suspect that since Pilate was the legitimate Roman authority who gave the order, he was named in the Creed as a way of including all those involved. And, if you think about it, all of us are included a little earlier in the Creed with the phrase “For us…and for our salvation, he came down from heaven.” Thanks for the question!