No Fear

Well, once again it has been quite a long time since my last post.  Today I wanted to address the readings from the mass.  The first reading is 1 Jn 4:11-18, and one part in particular stood out for me.

God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.
In this is love brought to perfection among us,
that we have confidence on the day of judgment
because as he is, so are we in this world.
There is no fear in love,
but perfect love drives out fear
because fear has to do with punishment,
and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love.

Why is this so amazing to me?  Well, first of all there is the beautiful Johanine language of “being in God,” which is just one of the simplest yet most profound ways of describing a life of grace.  Furthermore, however, the author asserts a disparity between “love” and “fear.”  God is of love, because “God is love.”  Jesus came among us and brought this love to perfection by making the ultimate sacrifice of love, and showing God’s amazing love that continues to offer a share in the divine life to us who are overwhelmingly not worthy of such a mind-blowing honor.

There is however, “no fear in love.”  Fear is conquered by love especially this “perfect love” because while “fear has to do with punishment,” God’s love ends punishment and reconciles those who have sinned.  As a consequence of this, fear indicates imperfect love, a motivation to do God’s will that comes from love muddled with fear.

Think about any time you heard someone say that we must do God’s will, because if we do not we will go to hell.  While there is truth in this statement, it is not a statement of truth in God’s perfection.  We do God’s will because we love God!  This is what God wants; this is why He offered us a share in His divine Life.  He came to save and not to condemn.  So, where does condemnation come from, and why should we not be afraid of it?

Condemnation comes from not being in the Father’s Love, though Jesus, the Son, in the Power of the Holy Spirit.  Condemnation is not being in God.  The emotion that most signifies this phenomenon is not fear, but rather anguish or despair.  Not being in God, is in a profoundly real way, not having life.  It is utter alienation from all that is real and worthy.  We however worship He who is utterly real and worthy.  We worship the God of perfect love, and thus, we have no reason to be afraid.  Children are afraid of punishment, and this is necessary for children because it takes time to learn respect and love for others (even parents… and I suspect parents know this better than I).  However, we are called to adult faith, faith that lives by love.  So therefore, “Do not let your hearts be troubled” (John 14:1).  The God of love has conquered fear as easily as when he walked upon and calmed the stormy sea.  Live in God’s will because of the perfect love God is growing in your heart.  In the words of God given us by the prophet Isaiah: “Fear not, I am with you; be not dismayed; I am your God” (Isaiah 41:10).

εὐχαριστία – Eucharist – Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  This will be a very short blog, because I have turkey to assault.  However, it’s been a while and it’s about time for another entry.  I just wanted to tell any of you who didn’t know that the Thanksgiving holiday has a special connection to the celebration of the Eucharist.  The Greek word from which we get our word Eucharist is εὐχαριστία (pronounced – eh-oo-cha-ree-STEE-ah).  This word actually means “thanksgiving.”  So think about that whenever you receive our Lord at Mass.  You are celebrating thanksgiving itself, the very expression of God’s love that both fills you and flows through you to the world!

A little bit of homework:  Without making it a distraction for your worship, next time you are at Mass, try and pay attention to how many times we use the words “thanksgiving,” “thank,” and “thanks.”  I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.  Once again, Happy Thanksgiving!

Right to life and health

The House of Representatives recently passed their Health Care Reform bill, with an amendment – the Stupak-Pitts Amendment – that prohibits federal money being used for elective abortions.  Read a little about the activity in the House here:

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/nov/09110706.html

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/nov/09110707.html

So, there is more of a chance that the right to life will be upheld and that the right to health care may be aided as well.  This blog is not an endorsement of the current legislation in the works, there are far reaching economic and social ramifications to the elements in the bill that was passed, but the US Bishops have continuously – for over a decade – called for needed health care reform that respects life.  While this bill may not be a workable solution, it is heath care reform that respects life.  We will see.

Next up, the Senate’s deliberation.

Jesus in the Eucharist

A theological discussion with some of my seminary friends inspired this blog today, and because theology students engage in discussion over fine theological points some may not find this blog that interesting.  However, if you do, let me first say that in no way to I (or any serious Catholic) reject the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.  I do not think there is a huge danger of people construing this blog that way, but a disclaimer up front seemed prudent.  All of that mess being said, let us begin with the question that was posed:  “Is Jesus physically present in the Eucharist?”

To start, we’ll need to cover some medieval scholastic metaphysics; don’t be scared.  The normative way of describing the change that the bread and wine undergo during the consecration at mass is termed “transubstantiation.”  In order to understand what this means, one must know the basic vocabulary used by scholastics like St. Thomas Aquinas.  Everything in the universe was understood by these philosophers as a “substance.”  The chair I’m sitting in is a substance, water is a substance, the bread and wine offered at mass are substances.  Good so far?  Okay, then furthermore, every substance consisted of matter and form.  Here we will start using diagrams to keep everything straight.

Matter is the stuff something is made of.  For instance, bread is made of wheat and the chair is made of wood and fabric.  Form is what makes the substance that particular substance.  I know a chair when I see one, even if there are millions of chairs that all look different, each has the form of a chair.  Another example is the human person.  I know a human when I see one, even if all humans look different (different sizes, cosmetic differences, some are missing limbs, some have deformities, etc.) they are all humans; they all have a human form.

So, now that we have these vocabulary words, we can better understand the concept of transubstantiation.  If we break down the word we can find its meaning.  “Trans” signifies change, and “substantiation” refers to substance.  So “transubstantiation” is a change in substance.  This a good word to use for the consecration because if you look at the Precious Body and Blood of our Lord in the Eucharist from a purely empirical, non-faith, perspective, you would see only bread and wine.  Why is that?  It is the teaching of the church that neither the matter or the form of the bread and wine change, only the substance:

So, the appearance and the stuff it is made out of does not change, but what it actually is, its very substance has become the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.  If someone, heaven forbid, put the consecrated host under a microscope it would still look like bread.  It still has the form of bread, but in faith we believe Jesus when he says, “This is my Body.”  The very isness of the host has changed, even though it cannot be seen empirically.

Now, the question remains.  Is Jesus physically present in the Eucharist?  It would depend on what you mean by physcially.  I would probably answer “yes” most of the time.  The substance is still there physically.  The Lord wanted a way to be with us, even though he was not going to be present in his walking-around resurrected body like he was before his Ascension.  On the other hand, I do say that Jesus is not materially present.  The host is not a fleshy piece of Jesus’ body, nor does it have the form of a body.  So, if by physically one means matter and form, then the answer would be no.  Still, I do not think that the word “physically” carries that connotation.

Are you completely confused yet?  If you are, don’t worry.  “Transubstantiation” is a word that attempts to describe an ineffable mystery!  Jesus’ presence among us in the Eucharist can never be fully understood, because that would mean trying to explain the presence and reality of God.  It can never be done.  God is infinite.  Still, one thing to remember is that God loves us so much that he deemed that we would never again be without the presence of the Son again.  This ultimately is the most important truth.

Salvation… The Great Equalizer

Lately, I have been thinking about the silliness of us humans.  We have received the greatest gift possible, salvation.  We have been redeemed by our God Most High, through the Sacrifice of the Son, in the Power of the Holy Spirit, and we accept this in our lives with great joy.  However, oftentimes, we question if we truly have redemption.  We sin and we confess our sins, but then we remain in our guilt feelings.  I am not saying we should not recognize our unworthiness before God, our proper place as creatures under God, and be constantly thanking God for his great mercy, but I am saying we should be truly faithful when it comes to our central tenet.

If we come out of the confessional, and continue to beat ourselves up with guilt over the sins we confess, do we really have faith in God’s mercy?  Do we have faith in the power of Christ’s sacrifice, the power of the blood He shed that makes such a thing as Reconciliation possible?  I would say no.  To continue in soul-burdening guilt is to say, “Yes Lord, thank you for forgiving me, but I know that I am still a wretch that cannot possibly be one with you.”  This is not the truth.  The truth is that GOD says we are redeemed.  GOD says our sins are absolved in the sacrament of Reconciliation.  Who are we to doubt?  Salvation saves us like it saved Mary (in her Immaculate Conception), Joseph, Peter, Paul, Elizabeth, Catherine of Sienna, Augustine, Monica, Martín de Porres, Juan Diego, Rose of Lima, Anthony of Padua, and Eugene de Mazenod.  We are just as saved as all of the saints!  Reconciliation is a celebration, not a punishment.  We should celebrate during the sacrament, rejoice when leaving the confessional, and live in the Spirit as we turn away from sin and draw closer to God.  So, come on Catholics!  Let’s stop dragging around as if we were not set free.  When sin comes, when you fall, deal with it through God’s mercy.  Then live a joyful life!  It is disrespectful and faithless not to give great praise and thanks to God and let the weight of that sin go.  God did, and that should be good enough for us.

You Search Me Lord, and You know me.

Psalm 139

O LORD, you have probed me, you know me:
you know when I sit and stand; you understand my thoughts from afar.
My travels and my rest you mark; with all my ways you are familiar.
Even before a word is on my tongue, LORD, you know it all.
Behind and before you encircle me and rest your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is beyond me, far too lofty for me to reach.
Where can I hide from your spirit? From your presence, where can I flee?
If I ascend to the heavens, you are there; if I lie down in Sheol, you are there too.
If I fly with the wings of dawn and alight beyond the sea,
Even there your hand will guide me, your right hand hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely darkness shall hide me, and night shall be my light” –
Darkness is not dark for you, and night shines as the day. Darkness and light are but one.
You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, so wonderfully you made me; wonderful are your works! My very self you knew;
my bones were not hidden from you, When I was being made in secret, fashioned as in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes foresaw my actions; in your book all are written down; my days were shaped, before one came to be.
How precious to me are your designs, O God; how vast the sum of them!
Were I to count, they would outnumber the sands; to finish, I would need eternity.
If only you would destroy the wicked, O God, and the bloodthirsty would depart from me!
Deceitfully they invoke your name; your foes swear faithless oaths.
Do I not hate, LORD, those who hate you? Those who rise against you, do I not loathe?
With fierce hatred I hate them, enemies I count as my own.
Probe me, God, know my heart; try me, know my concerns.
See if my way is crooked, then lead me in the ancient paths.

This is just a good reflection for me today.  The Lord knows me, and I pray he leads me in right paths.

Lift High the Cross

We celebrate today the Triumph of the Cross.  It is one of the great oddities of Christianity that we rejoice in this Cross, the implement that killed our Lord, our God and Savior.  Still, we value this Cross so much, that is is our very identity.  We wear crosses in public, we have a tradition of building our churches in the shape of a cross, and for us Catholics, almost no prayer comes and goes without marking ourselves with the Sign of the Cross.  It may seem bizarre for non-Christians, but that should not surprise us:

For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. – 1 Corinthians 1:22-25

This wisdom of God is that he turned a symbol of death into a symbol of life.  The cross was the image of a painful, humiliating, despicable death.  The Romans made sure that it was feared, which helped them control the people their occupied territories.  When the Cross of Christ triumphed over the death it was designed to inflict, through the power of the One it bore, the Cross was then transformed.  We now wear the death sentence as a proclamation of eternal life.  In the victory won through the Cross, it is now a bold symbol of God’s victory in this world.

Many people see Christianity, especially Catholicism, as merely an exhaustive, and exhausting, list of rules and scare tactics.  So many see the Cross as burden meant to crush us and keep us in our place.  Nothing could be further than the truth.  St. John the Evangelist speaks in today’s readings of the Cross as God’s healing hand.  As once the bronze serpent healed all afflicted in the desert, the Cross was lifted up to heal all who look upon it and raise them up to new life.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. – John 3:16-17

So rejoice today all you lands!  Jesus our Savior has won the victory.  The Cross has triumphed over death.  We have been made free, and God calls us to be one with Him forever.  Lift high the Cross!

Immaculate Mary

On this First Saturday of the month, I’d like to give some space to Our Mother, Mary.

You are the glory of Jerusalem, the surpassing joy of Israel; You are the splendid boast of our people. With your own hand you have done all this; You have done good to Israel, and God is pleased with what you have wrought. May you be blessed by the Lord Almighty forever and ever! – Judith 15:9-10

Mother Mary, pray for us, you children, who are in such great need in this world.  Pray that we have hearts that love above all else, so that we may follow your Son in humility and faith.

We live in the light

From today’s First Reading from Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians:

But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness,
for that day to overtake you like a thief.
For all of you are children of the light
and children of the day.
We are not of the night or of darkness.
Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do,
but let us stay alert and sober.
For God did not destine us for wrath,
but to gain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep
we may live together with him.
Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up,
as indeed you do.

Just good thoughts for today.  Build each other up!  We live in the light of God; what need is there of tearing each other down.  Live in the light; cast off the darkness.  Shine for all to see, today and every day!

Fatherhood

As you may have guessed, I am not a dad in the sense of having helped give life to a new child, or having taken on the role with an adopted child.  I have however taken on the role of spiritual fatherhood.  Recently, I have been thinking on the vocation to fatherhood, both in the familial sense and ministerial sense.  I find great wonder in the fact that Fatherhood is a vocation given to humanity by God from on High.

God is The Father.  This has been revealed to us throughout the ages through the Holy Spirit’s action among God’s people, and was revealed to us in the most definitive way by the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who taught us among so many other wonderful truths, to call God our Father.  The most well-known prayer in Christianity is in fact the Lord’s Prayer, “The Our Father” to us Catholics.  If we want to know how to be a Father, we must look to the Origin of Fatherhood, The Father himself, The First Person of the Trinity.

Who is this Father?  The Father is the “Creator of heaven and earth.”  All that is was created by him, by his pouring forth his will and power.  Furthermore, he is God, the Father of Israel.  He chooses his people, and they will always be His people.  He teaches them how to love, by his love of them.  He shows them the way in a burning bush, the proclamation of his Name, by setting them free from captivity, and by sending them the help they need to reach their full potential.  Our full potential in God is to be one with him, and he sent the Son and Spirit to us to allow us to reach this goal.  Lastly, he is the Father of the “seen and unseen.”  He can discern that which we would rather ignore, or do not see at all.

So, for family fathers, these roles have been given to them in their own way.  Creation is obvious for biological fathers.  How amazing is it that God allows men to have a hand in his role of creation, in making life?  It’s nearly unbelievable.  My brothers have participated with God and their wives in this amazing exercise four times now, and each time I am amazed, and can see an even more profound amazement on their face as they look at the children God entrusted to them.  For fathers who are not biologically connected to their children, the creation of a family, a covenant of love and life, is just as amazing.  This speaks to the second characteristic of fatherhood, the love for one’s people.  A family is a participation in the covenant God has with his people.  A father has to say yes to loving his children and his wife in the same constant, unwavering, completely forgiving manner that God says yes to us eternally.  That is a very daunting task.  This is especially so when a father has to help his children through something they do not understand or refuse to see in its full light.  Teenagers struggling to find their identity are a good example.  How does a father help their teen understand adulthood when they want to reject their parents as examples of adulthood and make their own way?  God bless the fathers (and mothers) of every teenager!

Similar considerations come to my mind and heart when I think of the people God has entrusted to me.  I must help God and my pastor create a loving covenant of parishioners, along with the parish pastoral team and staff.  This covenant must be nurtured and sustained with patience and love on my part.  I have to work as hard as I can to bring my parish ever deeper with God.  I have to navigate that which is confidential, that which is sensitive, that which is painfully public, and that which is quietly or sometimes very noisily moving through the community.

How can this be done?  The best generic answer is prayer and patience!  Still, I have to draw my strength from the best example I have of Fatherhood, and that is my Lord God.  When times get tough, or overwhelming, it does my soul good to remember that God entrusted this role, which is ultimately his role, to me and to all fathers.  This calls me to humility because my vocation is not my own, but it also calls me to gratitude and confidence.  I rest in the fact that The Father gave me my role as Father Jonathan, and that he, as the Good Father he is, he will be always be faithful and see me through with love, patience, and perfect Fatherly help.