Tag: Gospel

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He who is without sin..

I got some friends on Facebook and elsewhere who’ve taken umbrage with Mr. Obama refer to Kanye West as a “jackass.” I don’t follow Kanye West at all and I didn’t see the video music awards, but if the President of the United States of America refers to an individual with that epithet, I say “so what?” Get a life!

When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” — John 8:7

Is there anyone here without sin? Have I judged folks unfairly from time to time. You bet. No one is perfect.

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Holy is His Name

I love this song by John Michael Talbot. In fact as I listened to it Sunday morning on my drive over to Mt. Irenaeus I could not stop crying. The gift of tears is wonderful at times. It is such a lovely song I’m including it for you to listen too. Maybe it’s just what you need right now. I haven’t stopped listening either. I fell asleep listening to it last night on Youtube.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aYecuDlDYM]

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord
And my spirit exalts in God my savior
For he has looked with mercy on my lowliness
And my name will be forever exalted.
For the mighty God has done great things for me
An his mercy will reach from age to age

And holy, holy, holy is His name.

He has mercy in every generation
He has revealed His power and His glory
He has cast down the mighty in their arrogance
And has lifted up the meek and the lowly
He has come to help His servant Israel
He remembered His promise to our fathers

And holy, holy, holy is His name.
And holy, holy, holy is His name.

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Eremo

Today I was back at Mt. Irenaeus after a week away. Today was the culmination of a Franciscan Sojourners retreat and though I was not a part of the retreat there were many familiar faces among those that were there for that event. Fr. Dan Riley, OFM is an eloquent homilist and today he was really tuned up. He took today’s Gospel and talked about coming away to a deserted or quiet place. He talked about eremo and its place in the Franciscan tradition of coming away to quiet places, not to hide from the world but to more fully engage it.

His homily came to me at a time when I’d been thinking about those subjects a great deal. I mentioned in our sharing time that I thought that the world is not broken,  but that we are and and that being broken is a good thing. Brokenness is a strength and something to be sought after, because it is only when we are broken and poured out that we are open to the Gospel message.  I thought to of the story of the cracked pot and how due to its defect it actually watered flowers along the path. Our brokenness is often our strength, but too often we try to deny it.

I need to celebrate and cherish my brokenness. In it lies my strength. When I am weak then I am strong. When I think I’ve got all the answers then I’m not likely to listen to what someone else has to say. I need those times of eremo to live more fully in the world. Thanks to Fr. Dan for opening up the word once again and helping us all to cherish our times of solitude.

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He who is without sin..

We are surrounded by scandal. It’s all over the news and the pundits are having a field day. Lately it’s been Mark Sanford and John Ensign. Before that it was Larry Craig and Eliot Spitzer, Bill Clinton and the list goes on. Politicians have been trying to score points by claiming family values and the real issue is after all hypocrisy.

So when they continued asking him, he raised himself, and said to them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. — John 8:7.

Harsh judgement is really the issue and who is without sin. This week too we’ve been treated to another spectacle of harsh judgement by Senators so blinded to their own bigotry and ethnocentrism that they have been crucifying Sonia Sotomayor in the confirmation hearings. The senators are so concerned with Judge Sotomayor conforming to their standard of judgement which is primarily a white male view that they have missed the richness that this woman brings to the table and eventually to the United States Supreme Court.

I enjoyed Judge Sotomayor’s comments on the second amendment. For too long advocacy groups like the National Rifle Association have loosely interpreted the Constitution to mean that Americans have a fundamental right to “keep and bear arms,” without any regard to the overall safety of the rest of us. I believe that Americans do have the right to keep and bear arms but within the original context of the Second Amendment and that is as part of a militia or if you will the National Guard, Army Reserves etc. That I believe was the founders intent.

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A blessing

Today I made my way along a number of different roads and routes to Mt. Irenaeus. I haven’t been to the Mountain in a couple of weeks. Last week I found myself in Washington, DC and at a bookstore in Dupont Circle at 11:00 AM. Today, the air was sunny and warm as I pulled off Route 1 in Friendship, New York and turned on to Hydetown Road. I drove very slowly along the the dirt road as I made my way to Mass. Lately I’ve been intentionally driving slower and especially on my way up to Holy Peace Chapel. As the liturgy started and Fr. Dan invited us to listen to the lyrics of Cyprian Consiglio as he sang “This is who you are.” Mass began and I listened to the readings and Fr. Dan’s homily and as rich as all of it was, it was the moment when Fr. Dan related the story of how all were truly welcome in this place. Dan said, that earlier this morning as he had been preparing the chapel for the Eucharist that two members of the Baha’i and Muslim faiths had been here praying and that their presence helped to consecrate this place. He explained that they were neighbors and had been here before. Dan’s complete acceptance of them and their faith tradition reminded me why I drive thirty miles to Mass most Sundays of the year. Thank God for Fr. Dan Riley and for the Franciscan Friars of Holy Peace Friary who open the word of God for us.

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The least

I read this morning about an engaging young lady who will graduate from Notre Dame University today. She’s Brennan Bollman, and she’s this year’s Valedictorian. She’s got a 4.0 and more than that she’s focused like a laser beam on Catholic Social Teaching and the Gospel. I first learned of her earlier today from an editorial piece on HuffingtonPost.com.  I did some research and found out that she’s not only headed to medical school, but that she worked at a Catholic Worker house and like me she’s Irish. What a wonderful combination? The best part of it all is that she gets it. By “it”, I mean the Gospel. The Gospel is not about kissing up to the rich and powerful and subsidizing their failures. The Gospel is about reaching down and out to help those around us and especially the most vulnerable of our brothers and sisters.

My favorite quote from the Gospels and one that animates my life is taken from Matthew 25.

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, 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, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’ Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Godspeed to Brennan and all of her classmates.

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Well pleased

Tonight our daughter called to inform us that she has been awarded an Excellence in Student Teaching from the State University at Fredonia where she will graduate in nineteen days. Dara has excelled in her four years at college. Beginning with three semesters at Nazareth College and then the last five semesters at State University of New York College at Fredonia. Dara is our daughter in whom we are well pleased. Many young people dream of 4.0 semesters and some even attain those marks.  My best undergraduate semester was a 3.2 and I was quite proud of that. Dara’s overall GPA is 3.97 and a 4.0 in her major. Add to that she’s a charming and attractive young lady who is very sensitive and highly regarded by her peers and her teachers.  In other words she’s not a square. She’s athletic and continues to run eight to ten miles a week.  There is a quote from the Gospel of Matthew 3:17, “You are my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.” Tonight let me paraphrase that for our daughter and say, you are our beloved daughter in whom we are well pleased.  Deo Gratias!

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Radical Mercy and Forgiveness

Today a friend called to tell that another friend had died and suddenly at that. The fellow who died was a very good friend and I’ll miss him a lot. He was a good friend. We’d spent quite a bit of time together this winter. We’re both fathers and Navy veterans and both drove PT Cruisers. I hadn’t seen Pat in about a month and only the other day I thought of sending him a text message.  Earlier this winter while we were having a lengthy discussion I told him that I loved him and I did. I’m glad I was able to say that because I’ve often found it difficult to come right out and say that to another who is not in my own family.  Today, though I was filled with sadness over Pat’s passing I was glad that those words had passed between us. Life is short, shorter than we imagine sometimes.

All of this got me to thinking about the Gospel of Jesus. I read a couple of different places that Christian churches are in decline and that we’re in a post-Christian era. I’m not always sure what these writers mean when they write words like that, but for me there is a huge difference for what passes as Christianity most places and what was written in the Gospels.  Many Christian churches have become so wrapped up in politics that they are no longer prophetic, but pathetic instead.  I believe the Gospels were mainly about radical mercy and forgiveness.  I don’t even think Jesus came to found a church, he came in fulfillment of the scriptures. To me all of that is secondary to the message and that message is about forgiveness that knows no bounds and mercy beyond compare.  I came across an article written by Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM that summarizes much of what I think.

You don’t know mercy until you’ve really needed it.  As Thomas Merton once said—and I’ve quoted it often—“Mercy within mercy, within mercy.”  It’s as if we collapse into deeper nets of acceptance, deeper nets of being enclosed and finally find we’re in a net we can’t fall out of.  We are captured by grace.  Only after much mistrust and testing do we accept that we are accepted.

–Richard Rohr, OFM

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When doctrine trumps the Gospel

One of the readers of this blog maintains that one cannot be pro-choice and a good Catholic or even a good Franciscan and that Francis would be appalled. Francis lived in a time much like our own when the church sanctioned murder in the name of Christ. It was called the Crusades. Francis went to the Holy Land and visited with Malik-al-Kamil at the time of the Fifth Crusade. Francis, who opposed all killing no matter what the cause, sought the blessing of the Cardinal who was chaplain to the Crusader forces to go and preach the Gospel to the sultan. The cardinal told him that the Muslims understood only weapons and that the one useful thing a Christian could do was to kill them.

It seems then as now the church can be very wrong. The Pope signed a Concordat with Hitler which guaranteed the life of the Catholic Church in Germany but in so doing he stood not for Christ, but for the political entity of the Catholic Church. We have Christian chaplains in our armed forces who routinely bless members of our armed forces who will kill or be killed in battle. That’s not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s not love your enemies. That is political expediency.

Senator Obama is pro-choice. Pro-choice is not pro-abortion,  it is pro-choice. Senator McCain is not pro-choice and he’s going to get a pass from some narrow minded Catholics who can turn their back on their brothers and sisters whose blood cries out from the killing grounds of Iraq and Afghanistan. Demonizing the poor and marginalized is okay as long as you’re not pro-choice. You can defecate on the Constitution of the United States of America as long as you’re not pro-choice. You can turn your back on the Gospel of Jesus Christ as long as you’re not pro-choice. You can race bait and slander as long as you’re not pro-choice. If that’s what it means to be Catholic then I don’t want to be one.

I’m reminded of another brown man more my brother than some of my own race who said,

“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
–Mahatma Gandhi

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They sure as hell love each other

A tourist says to his guide, “You have a right to be proud of your town I was especially impressed with the number of churches in it. Surely the people here must love the Lord.” “Well,” replied the cynical guide, “”they may love the Lord, but they sure as hell hate each other.”–taken from “Selected Writings of Anthony De Mello.” by William Dych, SJ.

I’ve written before how much De Mello’s words touch me and this short story is a good one. How often do we hear of religious people full of intolerance for each other. This morning at Mass I witnessed an unusual event. Fr. Dan Riley, OFM who was our celebrant began the Eucharist this morning by inviting us to say our names and then told us that at some point during the liturgy we would break so that some late arriving guests could join us and then we’d sing “Happy Birthday” to one of them.

He began with the sign of the cross and then followed the Introit, the Kyrie, the Gloria, the first reading and the psalm, Following the psalm, Fr. Dan heard the guests arrive and then he walked out of the chapel to greet them. As we sat there waiting for the Mass to resume I thought of how much Fr. Dan’s actions were like those of Jesus. He didn’t wait for them to come to him, but went to them, met them when they were still aways off and brought them into our midst and then we sang Happy Birthday to Maurice. Dan’s actions speak louder than any words he could have spoken this morning. He was Christ to us and to the late arriving guests. The love in the chapel was palpable this morning and it touched us all.

The guest was St. Bonaventure University basketball player, Maurice Thomas, and his family. We all got to meet Maurice and his family and we all experienced love first hand. There was much love there this morning and its an event I won’t soon forget.