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Towards Unity

24 Wednesday Jan 2018

Posted by in Christian Unity, Forgiveness, Love

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Sermon for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany
January 21, 2018

We are currently in the midst of the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity. This yearly prayer for the unification of all Christians is much more, though, than just a pious practice. Indeed, to pray and work towards the unification of all those who believe in Christ is our duty as Christians.

We begin each day in this octave of prayer by quoting the words of our Lord, “That they all may be one, as Thou, Father, in me and I in Thee; that they also may be one in Us; that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me.” I would say that through these words we should be able to see that Christ not only desires unity amongst His followers – He even demands it. Our unity is to be a sign to the world of the truth of the Gospel, so that all the people of the world may come to believe in and follow Jesus Christ as their Saviour.

Now while it is true that the unity Christ prayed for is a reality within the Church and will never be lost, we, the sinful creatures that we are, can – and do – continue to cause division amongst ourselves. And when we do this the people of the world see it, and it leads to their disbelief and rejection of the Truth. We need to understand that in these self-sustained divisions we are not just hurting ourselves, we are in addition leading others away from Christ. Christ came that all mankind might be brought to a saving knowledge of the Truth. He came that all people might come into communion with the divine life of the Trinity. It should therefore be a very sobering thought that our actions towards one another could keep someone off that path to God.

Now when we observe the actual state of all those who believe in Christ, what do we see? We see division upon division of Christians all over the world; even here at our own parish we can see division. This division causes our Lord pain and it should be painful for us as well, and especially during this Octave of Prayer. And while we may not be able to single-handedly heal all the rifts amongst Christians around the world, we can most certainly do what is necessary to heal the divisions within our own parish and begin to heal the division between this parish and the Archdiocese.

Over this past year we have suffered a great deal of trauma from circumstances we know all too well. This has caused anger and outrage for many of us. And while we may have a right to be upset about all that happened last year we do not have a right to hate.

In today’s Gospel our Lord says, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the Gospel.” This repentance of which He speaks is not just a turning away from doing wrong. Instead, it indicates a change of heart – a rejection of our fallen nature and a continual becoming more like Christ. And the only way that is possible is by conforming our wills to the will of God. But this will never be possible if we continue to hold onto hatred and refuse to forgive.

And yet, we continue to hang on to anger and unforgiveness in at least one form that I want to discuss today: that of grumbling and murmuring. To give this a name we might call it a spirit of discontent. Now in one sense I can understand this attitude. What happened last year to this parish caught us off guard. When something like that happens we can become defensive. And from that defensive position people can easily give in to the spirit of discontent. But truly we have nothing to be discontent about.

Through God’s grace and wonderful blessing, the Pope put this parish where it belonged – in the Ordinariate, which is what we as a parish were praying for by the way. As a result we’ve been blessed with a new bishop that understands and appreciates who we are as a parish; in addition, we have also received a new pastor. So there are three things that happened very close together: a new diocese, a new bishop, and a new pastor. Any one of these would lead to changes – changes that perhaps some of you don’t like. But these three things happened almost at once and so with it there have been many changes. But instead of a spirit of gratitude at God answering our prayer for entry into the Ordinariate, what do you suppose that I am hearing? “Well, I don’t like this or that. All these changes are ruining the parish.” This is the spirit of discontent and it comes from the evil one. Therefore, when we speak this way we are sinning.

The Church teaches that sin by itself injures the unity of the Church. How much more so when the sin is directed against our fellow Christian? And if our own personal sin leads to division in the Church, then why are we constantly blaming someone else as the source of all our perceived problems?

Christ has called us to unity, but that is only possible through love and forgiveness. In other words, we must be like Christ who from the Cross forgave those who crucified Him. And we must love others as He did by wanting what is best for all people, even those who hurt us, or do things we don’t agree with, and by putting their needs above our own.

In the Gospel today our Lord called Peter, Andrew, James, and John to follow Him. “Follow me,” as followers of Christ, these are words He addresses to us everyday. But to be a follower of Christ you must heed the words I’ve said today about rejecting the spirit of discontent, and about forgiveness and love. Our Lord calls you to follow Him. No one can answer the call for you, you must do it on your own.

Respect for Life

04 Sunday Oct 2015

Posted by in Pro-Life, Sermons, What's Wrong with the World?

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Sermon for the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity

The USCCB has designated today as ‘Respect Life Sunday’. To many people this may sound synonymous with bringing an end to abortion. But while ending legalized abortion is a major component of respecting life that is not all there is to it. Now it seems obvious to me that such a designation on this Sunday would not be necessary if our country did in fact respect life. But it does not. Quite the opposite is the actual case for what our country believes about human life. There are numerous words that we could use to describe how our society, especially those in power, view human life – they disparage it, denigrate it, despise and disregard it, and have the utmost contempt for it. In short, our society dis-respects life. And we all, to a greater or lesser extent, are guilty of this disrespect for human life. But in order to understand just how deep this disrespect for life goes in our society, we must first understand what it means to respect life. I would define the respect for life as having a due regard for the rights and dignity of all mankind, whether they be born or unborn. Therefore, if we have racist tendencies, thinking we are better than someone else on the basis of skin color, then we are showing disrespect for that person’s life. And while not everyone is a racist, I think this example can help us to see how each of us, even if we are pro-life, is susceptible to a disrespect for the life of others. Now I don’t want to sound as though I am trying to belittle the concern we should have about abortion – I am not. Instead, my purpose is to try to show that there is an underlying problem within our society that leads to at least a tacit acceptance of abortion by many people in our country.

It seems to me that everyone expects to be given the respect their life demands and so you would think that they would desire this same respect for all other human life. But we know that this is not the case and, therefore, must ask why? Why do people not respect the life of their fellow man? There are several things that lead to a disrespect for life. One major component in our lack of respect is a lack of thankfulness for the life we have been given by God. People often take life for granted; in other words, we do not question how we came to be. And because we gloss over that question of how we came to be, we never acknowledge that we did not create ourselves. But in our lives, we must pause and consider the world around us. Where did the universe and everything in it come from? Do we really believe that it is all just chance? Absolutely not! We believe that it is God who created everything, including ourselves, and we need to constantly remind ourselves of this fact and be thankful. It is this lack of thankfulness that exists in our society, though, that is linked to another reason for its disrespect for life, which is this: we do not consider what the ultimate meaning of our life is.

Going back to the first point, if we never consider where it is that we came from, then we will never ask the next logical question: where are we going? Our Lord, and His Church, teaches us that our end, our telos, the reason for our existence is to be with God forever. Out of His infinite love God created mankind in order to be with Him in an everlasting communion of love. And even after mankind sinned, God sent His Son as the expiation for our sins in order to reestablish that communion of love with us. But if we take our life for granted then we will never see beyond this world and into the next. In fact, it would be impossible to do so. And if this world is all we can see then we will start to believe what the world and the devil would have us believe about our life – that we are just a collection of atoms with no ultimate purpose or meaning.

And yet, everyone desires for their life to mean something. And so we try to fill that void by getting as much as we can for ourselves. After all, if we are just a collection of atoms with nothing special about us, then that means that there is nothing special about anyone else. And then we come to view others as obstacles that are just in the way of obtaining the things we think we have a right to possess. And it is this selfishness that has led us to where we are now – over 40 years of sacrificing the unborn so that we can get the things that we want! In regards to this plague of abortion many people have been shocked in the last several months by the undercover videos about Planned Parenthood selling body parts. But I ask this – why are we shocked?! The purpose of that organization has always been to make money from the destruction of human life so why are we surprised that they have found new ways to make money off of it? The real thing that we should be surprised at is the fact that legalized abortion still exists! But we have become numb to the fact that abortion exists and therefore tacitly accept it. But we can do this no longer.

In order to overcome this we must come to an understanding that we all, born and unborn, are much more than just the sum of our parts. If we were the sum of our parts, then we could take the appropriate ratios of elements that make up the human body, put it in a blender and push puree – and voila you would have a new human. But that is not possible because there is a source of life underlying all those parts. Consider, for instance, what happens when someone dies – the body starts to decay. And the reason that the body starts to decay is because there is no longer any unifying principle within the body. In other words, the life has gone out of the body. And this unifying principle that brings life to the body is what we call the soul.

When a man and woman come together in bringing forth new life, they contribute the genetic material necessary for a new, unique person. But that which gives life to the new body – the soul – comes from God. Therefore, if on this Sunday we want to begin to truly respect life – that being to give our due regard for the rights and dignity of all people both born and unborn – then we must remember where life comes from and be thankful.

 

Salt and Society

17 Monday Aug 2015

Posted by in Morality, Salvation, What's Wrong with the World?

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You are the salt of the earth. What do these words imply? Did the disciples restore what had already turned rotten? Not at all. Salt cannot help what is already corrupted. That is not what they did. But what had first been renewed and freed from corruption and then turned over to them, they salted and preserved in the newness the Lord had bestowed. It took the power of Christ to free men from the corruption caused by sin; it was the task of the apostles through strenuous labour to keep that corruption from returning.

From a homily on Matthew by St. John Chrysostom

In this section from yesterday’s Office of Readings, St. Chrysostom is quoting our Lord from the Sermon on the Mount: “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltness be restored?” (Matthew 5:13, RSV-CE). One interpretation I have heard of this passage is that it means we, as Christians, are supposed to add ‘flavor’ to the society in which we live. While this seems like a questionable understanding to me, there may be some truth in it. But there is a problem – if we are flavoring a society that is already rotten then it is not going to taste any better. Therefore, it seems to me that St. Chrysostom’s interpretation – of salt as a preservative of that which is good – is a better understanding of what our Lord is trying to convey.

Before we continue we must deal with an obvious question: is our society rotten? There are many who would say that we, as a nation, are actually on the right path because now there is marriage ‘equality’, gender sensitiveness (evidenced by the acceptance of Bruce Jenner’s ‘new identity’), and other re-interpretations of moral norms. Those in favor of these things would tell us that truth is what we make it: the sky is blue only because I call it blue and I can just as easily call it orange. But just calling it by a different name does not make it so and common sense, which is not so common anymore, tells us that this is true. Maybe this is wishful thinking, but I think that a majority of people still have common sense. And if they were asked to take a critical look at the moral degradation of our society over the last 50 years or so, then they would have to agree that our society has indeed become rotten – in the least, parts of it have become so.

So, what do we do? Is there a way to fix our society as a whole? I suppose if we had an absolute monarchy with a moral and just leader then he could do away with all laws that are immoral and unjust. But we would still be faced with the problem of what to do with those people in our society who still believe in that which is immoral and unjust because they think it is a good thing: such as abortion or ‘marriage equality’. The number of people who truly believe in these things as good is considerable and just enacting proper laws is not going to change their mind. And so we would still be left with a cancer in our society – a cancer of a wrong understanding of mankind. And unless the cancer is cured our society will never be healthy. Instead, the cancer will continue to bring with it a certain amount rottenness to the whole of our society.

This brings us back to the quote from St. Chrysostom. Salt does not turn that which is rotten into something edible. And in a similar manner, just having Christians in a rotten society does not make that society healthy. But there is something, or rather Someone, who can bring healing to the individual members of our society: Jesus Christ. Notice that I say ‘individuals’. Even if we conformed all laws in this country to the teachings of the Church it would not be the same as bringing all the members of our society to Christ. Usually, when something is rotten there is nothing that can be done except to throw it away. But because of what Jesus Christ has done for us even the most rotten person can be renewed and made whole. And it is one of the duties of those who believe to tell the non-believer about Christ and to try to help them see the Truth.

Excuses, excuses, excuses

20 Tuesday Jan 2015

Posted by in Salvation

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There are many things I could list as valid reasons of why I have not been posting on a regular basis recently: a hectic schedule leading up to Christmas, various sermons to write, trip out of town with my family, and sickness for 5 out of 6 members of my family. But to be honest I must admit that I sometimes used those reasons merely as an excuse not to write on my blog. It was simply easier not to write anything. And yet I know that writing helps me to understand things better and, therefore, to be more effective at communicating with others. Perhaps those who read this blog don't care whether or not I write, but that does not matter. What matters is that I know what is good for me (to write) and yet I neglected to do it.

But because mankind is fallen we all have a tendency to do the same thing. For instance you've probably heard people say, “I just don't have time to pray.” Or, “I'm too tired to go to Sunday Mass.” Or, “I'm just to busy to learn more about the Faith.” And perhaps we are too busy. After all our society teaches us that we must always be 'doing' something in order to be successful. As proof of what I am saying look at how our society forms children: school for 8 hours a day, a couple of hours of homework every night and an endless procession of extra-curricular activities that is basically non-stop, which are all billed as necessary things so you can get into a good college and 'succeed'. (Yes, a good education is an excellent thing to have; but only if it helps to form us into the persons God wants us to be.) But exactly what is it that we are trying to succeed in doing?

Our ultimate goal in this life is come to know and love God with all our heart, soul, and mind and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Anything that keeps us from this ultimate goal is not helping us to be successful. Instead, it is at best a waste of our time and at worst leading us away from God for all eternity. In the end it is not really about what we do with our time but why we are doing it. If what we are doing in our lives leaves us too busy for God then why are we doing it? Why do we keep making excuses to do things that don't really matter? If we are too busy, and it seems to me that many (most? all?) of us are, then let us get rid of those things that don't matter and let us stop making excuses.

Why Do ‘They’ Hate Us?

17 Wednesday Sep 2014

Posted by in Love, Loving our Neighbor

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Although the ‘They’ listed in the title could refer to anyone that hates us, can also be seen as connected to my last two posts. As we start with this consideration of why people hate one another let us first consider what hatred really is. It seems to me that hatred is the effect of giving into the selfishness of being offended by the action of another. It is the desiring of evil to happen to the one who harmed us. (Whether or not the harm done was real or only perceived does not really matter. What matters is that someone feels slighted in some way and therefore hates the one who hurt them.) On the other hand, love is desiring the good of the ‘other’, even if they have harmed us.

The desire to hate and the lack of love, therefore, can be seen to be the cause of most (all?) conflict amongst mankind. So if we want to resolve conflict it seems that we must ask how do we avoid (or rid ourselves of) hatred? To this question someone might say, “Why should I want to get rid of hatred? The person that did _______ (here fill in your own offense) is bad and deserves to be hated.”

The reason we should rid ourselves of hatred is because we are not God. Hatred, it seems to me, comes from our desire to be the ‘God’ of our own lives, e.g., I don’t have things go the way I want them to and therefore I punish with my hatred the one who harmed me. (Not that I would or should do this – it is only an example.) It was the sin of Adam and Eve that introduced this disorder into the life of mankind. But the order that we were created for is that of love; a love based on God the Creator creating us out of love and for love: both love of God and love of those made in His Image: our fellow man. And this love, the love we were created for, is only possible if we live our lives in knowledge of the fact that we, the individual, are not God. We are creatures, who if we would act in love towards others as we were created to do, would see the true evil that lies within hatred. And as a result, we would no longer want to hate anyone. At least it seems to me this is the way that a Christian should see things.

So in answer to the question of why do ‘they’ hate us: in regards to those Muslims who do hate us, perhaps it is something within Islam that causes them to see things in a completely different light than a Christian would. Of course that would not make it right for them to hate us but it at least would help us understand why they hate us. But I am not a Muslim scholar and do not know what it is that might make them see things differently than us. If anyone has the answer please feel free to say so.

Hail Mary…

13 Saturday Sep 2014

Posted by in Eternal Life, Loving our Neighbor, Salvation

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Just a few moments ago, as I was preparing to write, the bells for the Angelus started to ring. The Angelus has been a part of my life going back to the Episcopal seminary I attended. It was there that three times a day the bell would ring and everyone, no matter what they were doing, would stop and remember the Incarnation of Jesus beginning with the words, “The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary; and she conceived by the Holy Ghost.” And that angel was, of course, the Archangel Gabriel. And so it seemed to me very Providential today that the Angelus would ring out just as I was preparing to write about the Archangel Gabriel.

Specifically, my purpose today is to make an important point in regards to my last post. That being said, we must ask how does the ‘religion of peace’ relate to the Archangel Gabriel? Well, I would say that he does not relate in the least to Islam, which I will explain below. But Islam, on the other hand, has something else to say in regards to Gabriel.

Before we get to the Muslim belief on Gabriel, let us recap the Christian understanding. Gabriel appeared to the Blessed Virgin Mary and announced to her the coming of the Son of God, and that she was to be His mother. Mary accepted this very special vocation from God by agreeing to God’s plan and she conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Old Testament prophesied about this event and the New Testament consistently expresses that Jesus, the Son of Mary, was and truly is the Son of God. Even Jesus Himself confirms this in the Gospels. And all of this was announced by the Archangel Gabriel.

Now to Islam: Muslims believe that it was the Archangel Gabriel that appeared Muhammad and revealed to him Islam. They believe that it was Gabriel that dictated the Koran for Muhammed to right down. But, the Koran says that even though Jesus was indeed born to the Virgin Mary, He was only a prophet and not God.

Therefore we are left with two religions claiming contradictory things about the same angelic being. Common sense dictates that it is not possible that Gabriel came to Mary announcing the birth of God's Son and also came to Muhammad saying that Jesus was not God's Son. There is only one option: one of the religions is true and the other is a lie. As a Catholic priest I am sure you know with which religion I side.

Now this isn’t to say I don’t believe an angel appeared to Muhammad. It is entirely possible that an angel did appear to him. But, we must remember that there are two camps of angels: those who chose to do God’s will and those who did not. The angels that serve God would not say anything contradictory to the Truth; in other words, they would never lie. And so Gabriel could not have appeared to both Mary and Muhammad. But, there are a group of angels which would have no qualms whatsoever about lying. In regards to the leader of these angels Jesus said, “he is a liar and the father of lies.” This would be none other than Satan.

This is the reason that I called Islam an evil religion in my last post. It is a religion that is based on a lie that says that Jesus is not the Son of God. But, and this is very important, notice that I said it is the religion that is evil – not the people within the religion, at least not all of them. Yes, there are many within Islam that have done terrible, awful, and evil things, but that doesn’t change the fact that all Muslims, Christians, Jews, and everyone else on this planet were made in the image of God and Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for all of them on the Cross. He desires that all be saved. Therefore, let us remember that Muslims live within a lie and then do what we can to show them the Truth. And let us not hate them like so many of them hate us. Instead, let us pray for their eternal souls remembering that we too need prayers for our own.

 

The ‘Religion of Peace’

11 Thursday Sep 2014

Posted by in Forgiveness, Salvation

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For a few weeks now I have been planning to do a piece on Islam. And today, the anniversary of the Islamic terrorist attacks on this country, seems to be a good day to reflect on the so-called ‘religion of peace’ and what was done to the people of this country 13 years ago. (And which continues to be done today in other parts of the world.)

Let us first get one thing straight: I am not saying that there are no peaceful Muslims. I am sure some of them are. But I believe it to be a lie to call Islam a religion of peace. Now I would imagine, in our politically correct society, that there are many people who would take offense at my calling the 9/11 attacks an ‘Islamic terriost attack’. They would say that it was only the ‘extremists’ that performed the attacks. But, let us be real, it was an Islamic attack. To deny this would be to say that the people who perpetrated the attacks were not Muslim, which would be untrue. To this someone might respond, “Yes, but many members of the Mafia are Roman Catholic, and they are responsible for many horrible crimes as well.” That is true, but it is not their Catholic faith that motivates their evil deeds. In fact, the Church denounces any such evil deeds done by one of its members or any evil done by anyone else for that matter. On the other hand, the same cannot be said of the 9/11 attacks or any of the things going on in the Middle East at this time. The actions 13 years ago and the atrocities being committed right now are very much an outgrowth of the religion of Islam, which is evidenced by the fact that the terrorists are directly motivated by the teachings of Muhammad.

But most people don’t want to think critically about such things. They just want to believe what the media tells them over and over and over again – Islam is a religion of peace. It is not hard to discover how big a lie this is. Here are some examples of what I am talking about. (There is much more that can be found at the website located here.)

Quran (5:33) – “The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement.”

Quran (8:12) – “I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.”

And that is not all. In total there are “at least 109 verses that call Muslims to war with nonbelievers for the sake of Islamic rule.” (From the above mentioned website.) To this some might say, “Yes, but jihad is supposed to be understood as a spiritual struggle.” Good luck convincing the family of James Foley and countless others throughout Islam’s history of that particular bit of nonsense.

 

Now that is enough about the whole religion of peace nonsense. If you still believe in that then go and see what the teachings of Islam really say instead taking your opinion from the talking heads on TV.

My main purpose is not to show how bad Islam really is. Instead, my main purpose today is to call for forgiveness toward those Muslims who have done such evil things against others. This is a case of hate the sin but love the sinner. On days like today when we remember such senseless evil done to us we can very easily become upset and angry, even to the point of hatred for those who do such evil deeds. When this kind of evil is done against a person or group of people there are sometimes those who will say, “I can never forgive them for that.” But as Christians we cannot allow ourselves to fall into such a trap. Yes, what was done was very evil, but look at the evil that was done to Christ and what did He say from the Cross? “Father forgive them.”

We need to understand that by giving forgiveness we are not condoning the evil that is done agaist us. Instead, when we forgive others we are saying in effect, “What you did to me was wrong, but, I do not hold it against you.” And why should we do this? Well, for one, Jesus told us, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” (Luke 6:27b-28, RSV-CE) And in addition He said “if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Those are very strong words which show us the importance of forgiving others. We must remember that we are all sinners in need of forgiveness, but if we do not give forgiveness to others, even to our worst enemies, then God will not forgive us either.

And why is this? Why does God require us to forgive and why did Jesus forgive His tormentors from the Cross? In fact, why did Jesus, the Son of God, die for us in the first place? Because each and every one of us, whether we be Muslim, Jew, Christian, atheist, or whatever, are made in the image and likeness of God and He desires all those who He has created to be with Him in Heaven.

And all of this brings up a final point. We should be concerned with those who are trapped within the religion of Islam. In our egalitarian “any religion is good as any other” mentality we do not understand what it means to be a Muslim. The people within it, especially the women, cannot just leave and join themselves to another religion if they feel so called. Muslims who dare to convert to Christianity are quite literally risking their lives because other Muslims, even their own family members, will kill them rather than let them leave Islam. Yes, the religion of Islam is a hateful, despotic, and even evil religion that has led to much suffering for centuries throughout the world. But those who are within it are still people in need of salvation and to carry around hatred in our hearts for them is equivalent to wishing them to hell. What we must do instead is forgive, pray for, and if possible, evangelize Muslims for the sake of their souls and our own.

St. Gregory the Great

03 Wednesday Sep 2014

Posted by in Catholic Church, Christian Unity, Eternal Life, Loving our Neighbor, Pope Benedict XVI, Saints, Salvation

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St. Gregory the Great and St. Augustine of Canterbury

Perhaps you have heard this story before but not perhaps from St. Bede the Venerable. This passage starts on page 86 of the pdf, which is numbered 74 in the text of the book. The whole book can be found here for free.

Nor must we pass by in silence the story of the blessed Gregory, handed down to us by the tradition of our ancestors, which explains his earnest care for the salvation of our nation. It is said that one day, when some merchants had lately arrived at Rome, many things were exposed for sale in the market place, and much people resorted thither to buy: Gregory himself went with the rest, and saw among other wares some boys put up for sale, of fair complexion, with pleasing countenances, and very beautiful hair. When he beheld them, he asked, it is said, from what region or country they were brought? and was told, from the island of Britain, and that the inhabitants were like that in appearance. He again inquired whether those islanders were Christians, or still involved in the errors of paganism, and was informed that they were pagans. Then fetching a deep sigh from the bottom of his heart, “Alas! what pity,” said he, “that the author of darkness should own men of such fair countenances; and that with such grace of outward form, their minds should be void of inward grace. He therefore again asked, what was the name of that nation? and was answered, that they were called Angles. “Right,” said he, “for they have an angelic face, and it is meet that such should be co-heirs with the Angels in heaven. What is the name of the province from which they are brought?” It was replied, that the natives of that province were called Deiri. (Note: Southern Northumbria) “Truly are they Deira,” said he, “saved from wrath, and called to the mercy of Christ. How is the king of that called?” They told him his name was Aelli;’ and he, playing upon the name, said, “Allelujah, the praise of God the Creator must be sung in those parts.”

Then he went to the bishop of the Roman Apostolic see (for he was not himself then made pope), and entreated him to send some ministers of the Word into Britain to the nation of the English, that it might be converted to Christ by them; declaring himself ready to carry out that work with the help of God, if the Apostolic Pope should think fit to have it done. But not being then able to perform this task, because, though the Pope was willing to grant his request, yet the citizens of Rome could not be brought to consent that he should depart so far from the city, as soon as he was himself made Pope, he carried out the long-desired work, sending, indeed, other preachers, but himself by his exhortations and prayers helping the preaching to bear fruit. This account, which we have received from a past generation, we have thought fit to insert in our Ecclesiastical History.

The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, St. Bede

I have always thought this to be a wonderful story. I suppose the main reason I find this story so intriguing and inspiring is because it led to the salvation of the English people, which is very important for me as an Anglican convert to the Catholic Faith. But of course there would be no ‘Anglican’ if St. Gregory had not first sent St. Augustine, which eventually led to Anglicanism after Henry VIII. So it is very appropriate that as Gregory sent Augustine to preach the Catholic Faith to the people and bring them into the one Fold of Christ, so also Benedict XVI published Anglicanorum coetibus to bring the lost sheep of Anglicanism back into the one Fold originally proclaimed by Augustine.

But there is another reason I am bringing up this story today. Notice what happens when Gregory sees the Angles being sold in the marketplace. His immediate and primary concern is not to see the slaves freed from their physical chains that hold them down. Instead, he is focused on another slavery that is far worse – that of being pagans, of being completely and hopelessly lost without a knowledge of Christ. It was the chains that enslaved their souls that he sought to free them from because it is those which have eternal consequences.

Many people today though have it completely backwards. They might see physical chains of some sort, some form of ‘social justice’ that needs to be performed, and through mere sentiment they seek to put right the perceived wrong. But of the spiritual situation of those in need they could not care less. This mindset is at least understandable in relief work done for the needy through various non-sectarian agencies. But when this is the attitude of those within the Church it makes no sense whatsoever!

Our Lord died to bring eternal, not temporal, salvation to mankind. This isn’t to say that we should not be concerned with the physical needs of our suffering brothers and sisters. We should – in fact our Lord demands it of us. But, we must have our priorities straight and remember that the help that others need most desparately, more than anything else, is not ‘justice’, whether it be social or otherwise. Instead what they need is mercy – the mercy that we can only receive through Christ’s redemption that He won for us on the Cross. St. Gregory understood this and we, as a Church that can see pagans of all kinds surrounding us, need to understand it.

Do Unto Others…

26 Tuesday Aug 2014

Posted by in Catholic Obligations, Liturgy of the Hours, Loving our Neighbor, Saints

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The quote below is from yesterday’s Office of Readings for the Memorial of St. Louis, King of France. (The rest can be found here.) This part in particular caught my attention because it seemed to me a very concise explanation of the ‘preferential option for the poor’ from the Church’s social teaching. After re-reading the section in the Catechism titled “Love for the Poor” (§2443-2449) my initial impression seems to be confirmed. If you are Catholic and not familiar with this teaching then you really should become acquainted with it because it is a substantial part of the teaching of the Church. In fact, reading the whole section concerning the seventh commandment (§2401-2463), “You should not steal,” will help greatly in your understanding of the ‘preferential option for the poor.’

There may be some Catholics, though, that are hesitant to learn about this part of our Catholic Faith due to the fact that most of the progressive (heretical) element within the Church comes from the ‘Social Justice’ crowd. (That being those who think that the only part of the Faith that matters is doing works of ‘social justice’ even to the extent of contradicting the clear teaching of the Church: for example the religious sisters who work as escorts for women coming into Planned Parenthood to have abortions.) But such people are not truly practicing the Faith. Jesus came to bring us life everlasting through His own Passion, Death, Resurrection and Ascension and bringing others to a saving knowledge of Him is our primary duty as Catholics. But, Jesus also stressed the need to care for the ‘poor’, which includes those who suffer from lack of money or some other form of poverty. And one of His most stark teachings on this is the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats where He says, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” Therefore, we would do well to listen to the words of our Lord.

But in addition to the words of Christ, we must remember that God sends us saints to help re-direct our attention to and deepen our understanding of the Truths of the Faith. And even though he lived about 800 years ago I think St. Louis’ words can really help us in our own understanding of Catholic Social teaching.

Be compassionate towards the poor, the destitute and the afflicted; and, as far as lies in your power, help and console them. Give thanks to God for all the gifts he has bestowed upon you, so that you will become worthy of still greater gifts. Towards your subjects, act with such justice that you may steer a middle course, swerving neither to the right nor to the left, but lean more to the side of the poor man than of the rich until such time as you are certain about the truth. Do your utmost to ensure peace and justice for all your subjects but especially for clergy and religious.

From St. Louis’ spiritual testament to his son

From this I want to show that the ‘preferential option for the poor’ is not about having the State give them everything they want at the taxpayers’ expense. Instead, it is about caring for them as we would want to be cared for if we were in their situation. In short–and this is the most concise explanation of caring for the poor–remember the words of Jesus, “And as you wish that men would do to you, do so to them.”

Loving your Neighbor as Yourself

19 Tuesday Aug 2014

Posted by in C.S. Lewis, Loving our Neighbor, Mere Christianity, Thought for the Day

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The rule for all of us is perfectly simple. Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbour; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less. There is, indeed, one exception. If you do him a good turn, not to please God and obey the law of charity, but to show him what a fine forgiving chap you are, and to put him in your debt, and then sit down to wait for his ‘gratitude’, you will probably be disappointed. (People are not fools: they have a very quick eye for anything like showing off, or patronage.) But whenever we do good to another self, just because it is a self, made (like us) by God, and desiring its own happiness as we desire ours, we shall have learned to love it a little more or, at least, to dislike it less.

Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis