Author Archives: Adam Fischer

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Episode 4 feat. Deacon Ed Pluchar

By Adam Fischer, on July 28th, 2010%

Sorry folks this one’s been up for a while on iTunes but if you want to listen here, you can now!

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

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Temptation in the desert

By Ed Pluchar, on July 21st, 2010%

Following a post titled, “The Man God,” by my comrade and caddy, Adam Fischer, Brian T. took to the comment board and sparked a discussion on the nature of Jesus’ temptation in the desert.  Since it got buried in a post no one else was reading anyway, I thought I’d reprise my response to Brian’s thoughts and see if there aren’t any other responses out there (or follow-up thoughts from Brian, for that matter).

In quick summary, Brian noted a reference Adam made to Jesus’ temptation, and asked for clarification.  He wondered in what sense Adam was speaking about Jesus’ “weakness,” particularly during the temptation, since it is a matter of faith affirmed by the Church Fathers that Jesus could not possibly have failed in His mission, even down to the smallest choices.  In other words, not only was He sinless, but He could not have sinned, due to His divine nature.

Brian posted several links to back up his stance, including this one.

Beyond the highlighted quote is a line from St. Leo the Great which says: “For we should not be able to vanquish the author of sin and death, were it not for the fact that our . . . → Read More: Temptation in the desert

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You are what you eat

By Adam Fischer, on July 18th, 2010%

I’m currently spending two weeks at Behtlehem Farm.  If you’ve never heard of the place stay TUNED our podcast hitting next weekend will tell you all about them!

The Farm is a wonderful place though.  It sits upon some of the most beautiful land our country has, and is all together an amazing place to reflect, to pray, and to work.  When volunteers and group weeks come through the Farm discusses eating as a moral act.  They try to show those passing through how what we choose to eat affects the whole of God’s creation.  From farm to table, they take volunteers through the process of how creation is often harmed by what it is we put in our body, and ironically creation is continued to be harmed in our own humanity as we eat things that often are a detriment to our health.

I can tell you, some of the best meals I’ve had have been on the Farm.  There’s something to be said about food that is literally picked from the garden moments before it enters the ingredient list for that day’s meal.  This has also caused me to kick around a hypothesis that I’d like to share with all of you. . . . → Read More: You are what you eat

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“On Prayer”

By Ed Pluchar, on July 17th, 2010%

A friend blessed me with a book by Karl Rahner (SJ, or some such) titled as shown above.  Many passages are worth passing along; here are a few.

“Our love of God and our prayer have one difficulty in common.  They will succeed only if we lose the very thought of what we are doing in the thought of Him for Whom we are doing it.  To be concerned mainly with the correct way to love or the correct way to pray, entails almost inevitable failure in the realization of either activity.  It is useful to consider these matters in retrospect by meditating on the nature of the love of God and on the nature of prayer; it is useful to attempt to describe what the act of love or the act of prayer really entails.  Yet, to some extent, such meditation destroys the very act itself, for we cannot really perform an act and at the same time be preoccupied with the mechanics of our doing it.”

Quoting St. Augustine’s famous statement, “Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in Thee,” he goes on to say:

“Deep in our buried . . . → Read More: “On Prayer”

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“Sine dominico non possumus”

By Adam Fischer, on July 4th, 2010%

In the 4th century, Roman Emperor Diocletian had made a decree that any Christians posessing Scripture, meeting to celebrate the Eucharist, or constructing any buildings that could be used for religious gatherings would be put to death.

In 304 A.D. a group of 49 Christians from Abitene (present-day Tunisia) were taken captive by the Roman empire for meeting privately to receive the Eucharist.  When asked by their prosecutors why they would do something so foolish they responded “Sine dominico non possumus” translated – “Without Sunday we cannot live. ”

Without Sunday we cannot live.  This was their faith.  This was their reason.  And this was the eventual cause of their death, as they were executed shortly after their arrest.   I have the great fortune of being able to post on Sundays, the Lord’s day, and as it has been called the new Easter.  Our gathering together on Sunday does not happen by chance, but it shares the same day that Christ rose from the dead.  And Christ’s resurrection shared the same day as the first day of the week.  And the “first day of the week” gets its distinction as it symbolizes the first day of creation (we sometimes confuse Sunday . . . → Read More: “Sine dominico non possumus”

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“The more things change,…”

By Ed Pluchar, on June 30th, 2010%

There was a feature in the Chicago Tribune this past Sunday which was simply uncanny, though not surprising.  Headlines and political cartoons were reprinted from as long as 140 years ago, with the too-blunt-to-be-implicit point that we haven’t really conquered many of our big problems.  A few were:

“OIL SPILL THREATENS GULF” from a spill in 1980 of 4,000 barrels.  There were concerns about how and where the oil would disperse.

“REVOLT MAY BE NEARING,” leading with “Taxes are becoming so burdensome…” and more or less describing what the tea parties are about.  It was 1949, and a quoted expert said, “the politicians, apparently, are not aware of the situation.”

There were two about the CTA’s financial problems, from 1950 and 1967.  And there’s one about how Cubs fans are long-suffering.  The date on that one is 1968.

In this context, I would like to share some quotes from GK Chesterton, which have a similar effect.

“Do not look at the faces in the illustrated papers. Look at the faces in the street.”

“Progress should mean that we are always changing the world to fit the vision, instead we are always changing the vision.”

“I still hold. . . that . . . → Read More: “The more things change,…”

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The Man God

By Adam Fischer, on June 27th, 2010%

Incarnation.  Begotten.  Nature.  Substance.

One of the most fascinating mysteries of our faith deals with the Incarnation of Christ.  In the early history of the Church the question naturally arose regarding how Jesus was God and how he was man.  How did these two seemingly opposite natures co-exist in one created being?  Due to the overwhelming questions that arose from this great mystery and many heretic proclamations the council of Nicea was spawned to see what it is the Church confessed.  Through this council we have the Nicean creed,  which took up not just the Incarnation but also issues of the Trinity as well.  As a result we have a rather profound proclamation of Jesus as the begotten son of God.  The Church would confess that Jesus was fully man and fully human.  Two natures in one being.

For the next 1700 or so years we’ve continued to contemplate this very profound mystery.  I’ve noticed from conversations I’ve had with friends of the faith, those who are learning of the faith, and especially in my time as a Catechist, that this great mystery still can be incredibly misunderstood, and many times these misunderstandings all seem to “lean in favor” of . . . → Read More: The Man God

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A Harbor in the Tempest

By Ed Pluchar, on June 26th, 2010%

Here is another thought I am developing.  Once again, I invite your feedback to help me develop it.

(The other thing to say about these developing thoughts is that I am not claiming to be the first to think of them, or that they’re even very profound for anyone but myself.  On the other hand, I encourage you to see, at least, that I am seeking a thorough understanding of these ideas, and not to grasp them simply as facts that might be taught in a religion class).

At times when my faith is challenged, when I have to acknowledge that I have an almost infantile view of many points of theology, and philosophy at large, the vessel of my mind begins to drift away from the harbor.  What if I’ve come to dock at the wrong port?  (If you feel silly reading this figures of analogy, know that I feel silly writing them.  But coming up is a valuable point, I think).

There is, after all, the whole ocean out there.  If this is the wrong port, I have a lot of searching to do over an unbelievably vast space.  I begin to wonder how I got here, now . . . → Read More: A Harbor in the Tempest

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The Ideal

By Ed Pluchar, on June 17th, 2010%

Here is a line of thinking which I have tried developing for a few years, and I would greatly appreciate any help advancing it (or challenging it, for that matter).

The summary would be something like this:  The moral demands of Catholicism represent ideal human behavior, including thoughts and actions.  Not so groundbreaking, though you may be someone reading this who would disagree.

It becomes interesting, I believe, when laid next to the modern approach to morality.  Co-habitation is a fairly innocuous example, partly because many people who co-habitate do so out of a sense of necessity.  It is more practical, they will argue.  They often are not repulsed by the thought of marriage, but in no hurry either. Co-habitation is convenient.

Put another way:  Few people approach the start of co-habitation with the same joyful expectation as most people enter marriages.

In that light, I have found few people who would disagree with the notion that living apart from one’s significant other (or fiance when things become more serious) should be preferred in a fundamental way to co-habitation.  Now, some of these may also be Catholics, and here is the reason for raising this line of thinking at all:  . . . → Read More: The Ideal

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Pope Benedict’s Homily as the Year For Priests comes to a close

By Adam Fischer, on June 15th, 2010%

As the Year for Priests came to a close Pope Benedict preached this Homily. I found it particularly inspiring and wanted to share it with you:

Dear Brothers in the Priestly Ministry,

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The Year for Priests which we have celebrated on the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the death of the holy Curè of Ars, the model of priestly ministry in our world, is now coming to an end. We have let the Curé of Ars guide us to a renewed appreciation of the grandeur and beauty of the priestly ministry. The priest is not a mere office-holder, like those which every society needs in order to carry out certain functions. Instead, he does something which no human being can do of his own power: in Christ’s name he speaks the words which absolve us of our sins and in this way he changes, starting with God, our entire life. Over the offerings of bread and wine he speaks Christ’s words of thanksgiving, which are words of transubstantiation – words which make Christ himself present, the Risen One, his Body and Blood – words which thus transform the elements of the world, which open the . . . → Read More: Pope Benedict’s Homily as the Year For Priests comes to a close

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Where is the call to devotion?

By Adam Fischer, on June 14th, 2010%

I admit it, I can sometimes be overly critical about a Homily.  I sometimes feel bad about it.  I try not to be too nit-picky, but often times I get very frustrated by what I hear.  Add to the fact that I think Liturgical silence is a lost art form nowadays (I feel like there should be a large amount of silence between readings and after a Homily) and I really believe we’re at a bit of a crisis to find solid Homilicians in the Church today.

I feel like today’s scriptures were just ripe for a wonderful Homily.  It had everything you want; sin, repentance, forgiveness, a call to new Life in Christ.  It seems like one would have to go out of their way to punt a Homily.  Sadly, today’s presider looked like Brad Maynard.

I feel like today’s Homily would’ve been a perfect time to discuss the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  It was almost laid out for a Homily on Confession.  Instead today’s Homily went down an all-too-familiar route.  Now don’t get me wrong, the Homily wasn’t “bad.”  There was nothing untrue about it.  Nothing that was ya know, heresy or anything of the sort.  But it just seemed like with a . . . → Read More: Where is the call to devotion?

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Litany of Humility

By Ed Pluchar, on June 11th, 2010%

Maybe you’ve seen this.  Every once in a while I come across something which is, in an accurate way, devastating to my ego.  More on the ego another time…

I’m tempted to say that most people should experience a similar response, though that’s probably an egotistical thing to say.  Therefore, I will say that every line advances the line before it, the total effect I might liken to an imagined world where I own a profitable casino.  One day the casino is struck by lightning, and the fire steadily grabs hold of the entire building and burns it down.  The conclusion of the prayer is like staring at the smoldering ruins, and all that mix of emotions before such (perhaps holy) devastation. The prayer can be found at http://www.ewtn.com/Devotionals/prayers/humility.htm, among other sites.

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me. From the desire of being esteemed, Deliver me, Jesus.

From the desire of being loved… From the desire of being extolled … From the desire of being honored … From the desire of being praised … From the desire of being preferred to others… From the desire of being consulted … From the desire of being approved … From . . . → Read More: Litany of Humility

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Episode 3 feat. Fr Joe Noonan

By Adam Fischer, on June 6th, 2010%

Episode 3 is here.  Fr Joe Noonan, vocation director for the Archdiocese of Chicago, stopped in the studio.  We also introduce a new feature: Catholic App Review.  Stop on by and enjoy!

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

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Culture of Death

By Adam Fischer, on June 6th, 2010%

I’ve been reading The Difference God Makes by Francis Cardinal George. It’s a fantastic read. If you don’t have it pick it up, pronto. In it he references John Paul II’s Evangelium vitae extensively in the first two chapters (as that’s all I’ve been through).  JPII talks about the “Culture of Death” that permeates much of society, including the US.

While I’ve heard of this reference before, Cardinal George really does a great job of drawing it out and it ended up helping me put words to observations I’ve had myself.  Specifically, how much of what we see on television is about violence, murder, and death.  So I did a little research and went through the primetime lineups of the Big 3 broadcast networks (ABC,CBS,NBC).

All told they program 45 hours of primetime Monday through Friday.  I ended up looking at all of their primetime programming and looked at programs where murder was at the heart of the plotline for the show.  For this research I actually looked at the plot synopsis for the show as listed in the directv.com channel guide.  These results also include 20/20 and Dateline, as those two shows were planning on shows about murder.

All told . . . → Read More: Culture of Death

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Reconciliation and Cynicism

By Ed Pluchar, on June 3rd, 2010%

At the time of this writing, fellow Catholic Guy Adam Fischer is helping to revamp the website for St. Julie Billiart Parish in Tinley Park, the parish of my youth.

A few days ago he informed me that the most visited page among the Sacraments was Reconciliation.  This spurred a thought in me, and I’d like to hear whether you have any thoughts on the subject. My response was, “There is something sublime about that.  It’s the first act of intimacy for the cynic, to confess sins.” I hold to that.  At the certainty of sounding cliche, much of the media we consume is cynical in nature.  How else can it be that Jon Stewart’s trustworthiness rates higher than those of traditional news anchors?  His point of view aligns with the culture, and it’s very cynical. Reconciliation is the first act of intimacy, then?  I think it is, and here’s why:  People become cynical when they observe hypocrisy without due recompense.  Children want to know why some students get more favorable treatment than others, and adults want to know how some politicians can be such crooks and still hold their offices.  The injustice, the complete failure of immediate and obvious . . . → Read More: Reconciliation and Cynicism

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Lifeline to the Faithful

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The faith is a demanding thing, and the way may well be impossible.

You are a creature, in the flesh, and subject to the stresses and demands of physical survival.  You can no more extract yourself from the natural world than you can leap off the Earth and land on the Moon.

We will ever be at odds with the world, and if we are not, that shall be a warning to us.  As it is, the more one is faithful, the more he will be hated.

The darkness is always closing in.

 

The world then, with its powerful and mighty, its famed and fortunate, has an appeal the faithful can never capture.  There is enmity and it cannot be bridged.  The advantage, so long as we are in the world, belongs to the worldly.

So you may find yourself beaten down.  In a world upside-down – as it will ever be – your virtue is a drag on your success, your kindness is weakness, your modesty is a limit beyond which your competitors race to defeat you.

You may come to think that, despite the echoes of your dreams, dreams from a far-off place, you are destined to a middling life.  Gray and sluggish, commoditized, leaving no impression by which you will ever be remembered.

But you’ve got it all wrong;  You have swallowed the lie.

 

I am your brother, listen to me:  You have closed yourself off from God.

God – does not – permit mediocrity.  He will spit you out, and perhaps He has.

 

Here is how you will find the moment of expectoration:  When did you last avoid a good action because of fear?   It is that simple – in your family, in your business, in your spiritual life, when you have found something good to be too much, or too dreadful, you assumed the temperature of the room.  You were no longer pleasing to the taste, giving satisfaction to the thirst.

 

The lie is that, as a child of God, you are bound to defeat.  No need to begin fighting, it will all end in flames and ashes.

The enemy is no fool.  He knows that if he can demoralize you before you’ve begun to fight back, he’s already won.

The game is rigged against you, he says.  He holds all the cards.  Go ahead, make a run at it – see how easily you are slapped down?  And what are you resisting sin for, after all?  If it is all for God and the ultimate victory, why does God not win right now?  Why does He make it all but impossible for you to succeed?

 

Now, do you see how you have been poisoned and duped?  Do you see how the world has trampled upon your God-given dignity, and has stifled the mighty works God meant to work through you?  It is time to go in, whips in hand, and throw the tables over.

The truth is, you have not trusted God enough.  You have accepted, from fear or disappointment, that He will not come through for you.

Perhaps you are inadequate (you are).  Perhaps you are imperfect (doubtless).  Yes, you have failed, and you have shamed yourself, and you have given every earthly reason to any worldly power that you are not up to the task.

Do you see the lie?  You will see it when you hear the truth:  You do not answer to a worldly power.  You answer to the Almighty.

Therefore!  It does not matter if you have failed by worldly measures, over and over again.  It does not matter if you have showed yourself inadequate for the task, lacking in perseverance, intelligence, skill.

Fool!  IT. IS. NOT. ABOUT. YOU.

Do you wonder why Adam and Eve ate of the apple?  First, clean your lips of that bitter sweetness… you have sunk your teeth into the lie and devoured it whole.

 

Let’s put it starkly, written in a flame against the blackness of night:  The Devil has isolated you from God, and proceeded to devour you.  This is why you are demoralized, beaten down, perpetually inadequate, in motion and going nowhere.

The Devil is virtually a god and has convinced you that you must face him under your own power.  Every failure, every weak moment, every grasp at evil is one more victory for him, and one more defeat for you.  And you have no hope of overcoming him…

 

…alone.

But of course he has lied to you.  He rigged the game, he set you up for destruction.  Now, you know better.

You, as always, must call on the Almighty.  You must call on Him with all of the desperation of a drowning man, because truly you cannot defeat the waves.  You must call on him as though the enemy came fully armed, has you surrounded, and is counting down to your annihilation.  Because you cannot defeat death.

 

But He can.

And there it is, my brother, my sister.  Look to Him, always.  Pray to Him, at every moment, for every good thing – especially in your need.

Then, simply hold on.  Work and strive and fight with everything you have, reinforced by the power of God.  One day you will barely be able to stand, and the next you will be lifting mountains.  First, you will strain to walk, then you will race with all speed to the ends of the earth.

Many will doubt, and then you will succeed beyond all of their expectations.

Many will forecast doom, and you will deliver victory.


Unfathomable

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It is difficult to capture the miracle of the Resurrection.

On the one hand, we all experience it every day, arising from our sleep.  On the other, none but a small child believes he goes to sleep for the last time when he lays down his head.  (Is it a terror of existential darkness that causes young children to avoid bedtime?)

The finality of death is a cleft in the mind, the pit into which all fall and none recover.  What one makes of this creates a divide, while there is no division about waking up each morning.

What happens after we die?  Many guesses.

Whether death is an end, whether it just is the observed failure of the body to persist, whether it is the excising of a very particular person and presence from the world in the way she was commonly known?  Yes, no one argues this.

Put it this way:  Say you believe a loved one lives on, and well he might.  Now you observe him in little signs, a serendipitous word from a stranger, a rare species of flower where one does not ordinarily find it, an annoying thing he always did that comforts you now.  Here is the test:  Would you rather have these little signs for another 10 years, or one more day with him, in his fullness?

Death forces your hand, leaves you the scraps when you crave the feast.  It is a savage compromise, but that is the Universe we are in.

So much for the true and severe loss of death.

Now Good Friday is the collapse, the utter devastation and lifeless plummet into the pit.  It is the heavy-weight fight, the clash of Titans – Life vs. Death.  And Life, as expected (though recklessly hoped against) staggers and falls from unimaginable height to unimaginable depth.

One loses his breath.  Of course he does – he watches the Source of that breath, breathing His last.  He goes under, lost, never to return.

 

Easter Sunday is the unfathomable resurgence, the great inhale, the impossible gasp.  It is the cure of all depression, it is cause for an old man to leap to his feet and run like a child, it is fire and purpose to accept, stare down, … praise God for a torturous death.

Or become child-like again.  If the night brings terrors, what does the day bring?  What irrepressible joy comes with the dawn of a new sun?  What verve of anticipation passes through your bones just to think of Christmas morning?  (And why Christmas morning, and no other?)

Run, and never grow weary.

 

Easter is our great Hero finding the bottom of a bottomless pit.  It is saving the souls of the irredeemably lost.

It is slipping into darkness, clawing to stay awake, alive…the sheer terror of all joy, all love, all of everything being ripped away…

…and then you wake up, and there are no more tears, and all you know is love and joy and the thrill of existence.

See – It is death that is impossible.  You will live.

Happy Easter.


Why every day cannot be Christmas Day

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I write this at peak Christmas.

Peak Christmas does not happen on Christmas Day – it happens the night before.

All of the preparation, the carols, the extra coins in the red bucket at the grocery store, the stories of good will toward perfect strangers, the re-focusing on just what Christmas is all about, the magic of the nighttime, the anxious awaiting of dawn…

It reaches a head just before bedtime on Christmas Eve.  You could stride along, atop the sheer anticipation.

There are those universal moments – the story of a stranger pulling over to help someone stranded on the side of the road, or a famous person discreetly providing toys to poor children, or a church getting together to feed the homeless a hot meal – which elicit the lament, “Why can’t every day be like this?”  Or you sometimes hear it declared, ambitiously – “Make every day Christmas day!”

It would be nice, wouldn’t it?  A universal disposition toward concern for others, finding satisfaction in bringing joy to others, making impossible things happen – even the gaiety of spirit one experiences, alone, driving along a dark road with Christmas lights shining brightly.

Why can the people in darkness not see a great light, every night?

 

In the classic carol, “Little Drummer Boy,” there are two lines which go:

Little Baby, pa rum pum pum pum 

I am a poor boy too, pa rum pum pum pum 

This verse presents the Incarnation in a striking way.  A boy who is weathered by the elements, who knows hunger, who is always only days away from wasting away – this boy empathizes with the King of Kings, because the King has so completely relinquished His power.

He has arrived utterly powerless, utterly impoverished, an infant lying among beasts.  Of course a shepherd boy could relate.

What’s more, a few lines later – “Then He smiled at me.”

This can be our Lord’s simple pleasure at a shepherd boy’s humble song.  Then again, if you hold in mind the shared poverty, something else emerges:  It is a blessing.

The baby to the boy:  Your humble station, your poverty, are not the shackles you think they are.  You are here before the Almighty, aren’t you?  Did you not see the heavens open up, and angels arrayed like a mighty army, singing my praises?  And with Me, what will be impossible for you?

 

Of course, on the one hand, we cannot have our own birthdays every day.  Even if you tried to celebrate every day this way, it would – very quickly – exhaust your body’s ability to feel pleasure and your mind’s ability to call it happiness.

So that is the first answer:  Celebrations stand out from ordinary time, and require the experience of ordinary time in order to create the contrast, the novelty, the superlative atmosphere for which they are known.

See it another way – our ordinary experience in the modern world is Christmas-like for those from another place or time.  That the ordinary is no longer special is not only tautological, but part of the human condition.

The second answer rides aloft upon the first:  We are not home yet.

The Incarnation was a rescue mission, an invasion by God Himself to save His children when nothing else would work.

That He arrived as a baby was a profound stratagem, one that brought Him deftly behind enemy lines.  He evaded the princes and principalities, and He softened the guard each of us keeps on our hearts.

That the Almighty became frighteningly vulnerable; that the all-knowing became ignorant of His own name; that He who is Holy, Holy, Holy was tempted to sin…

All of this was done, to save you.

Nothing could be more extraordinary.  “Christmas every day” could never capture it, and it is undesirable in any case – because it would be a fraud.

What Christmas gives us is a flickering light through a dark glass.  It is nostalgic, like the memory of a long-deceased father who loved us very much.  It is one frame per second of the memory we wish could play over and over again.

It is, in short, a reminder of our true home.  Not even Christmas – not the best, most magnanimous, most inclusive, most abundant moment of Christmas – can truly accomplish what is longed for when we ask for Christmas every day.

That is achieved when God remakes the heavens and the earth – this world, the darkness, will pass away.

Everything else is a paltry imitation, and even the holy day itself merely points to this.  You will know it is really Christmas when you hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”


Spirit and Letter of the Law

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The Pharisees made an art and a science out of observing the Law of Moses, cowing many followers into observing the endless minutiae and machinations they had devised.  It was indeed a heavy burden – was God really like this?

Or should the commandments of God liberate us from sin, and cut a path to His love and mercy?

Along comes Jesus, who earlier permitted his disciples to pick grain to eat on the Sabbath, and now was healing on the Sabbath.  How could he explain this over and above the endless strictures concerning the day of rest?  -which strictures certainly appeared to take the command “Keep holy the Sabbath” as seriously as possible.

Jesus’ justification is two-fold:  First, a man is more valuable than a sheep (and the Pharisees would certainly rescue their own sheep from harm on the Sabbath).

Second – of course it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.  The whole point – of all God’s commands – is that we ought to do good.  But we sin, so we require God’s mercy and guidance to do good rather than to sin.  The commandment regarding the Sabbath was directed toward being holy – not toward following a rule.

The commandments are not for nothing.  They are the pattern of behavior, the focus and discipline of a man’s spirit toward the will of God.  If you follow them because you love God, you will do well!

If you follow them because you love power and influence, because you leverage them so that men will grovel at your feet or struggle to be conformed to your image, now that you have sufficiently misshapen the Law…

Right then, it is time to turn back.  Immediately.  Turn around – you’ve gone far, far off the path.

But take heed… a viper would be found far off the path.

 

See it again, one more time:   If there had been no Fall, there would be no Law.  We would be inclined toward the Good, and thus “all things are permissible.”

As it is, there was a Fall – and therefore we are profoundly broken.  We see good, and perceive that it is evil.  We see evil and imagine it is good.  It is an honest mistake, or it would be a diabolical one.

To counter-act this, God established rules-laws-patterns of behavior that would settle all disputes within the will (and the community).  My fallen nature urges me toward an illicit act.  But it is powerful and feels genuine – why not act on it?

There might not be any reason to avoid doing so, except the Law.  Of course, even that was violated, but at least we could then recognize we had sinned, and were in need of a Savior…

Therefore, the Law was good – profoundly good, so that not one iota would be altered until heaven and earth disappear.

And it was this profound good that the Pharisees had appropriated for their own gain.  The promise of God, that one would find true peace and prosperity and joy in following the commandments (“Lord, I love your commands!”), became a long chain of shackles hammered together by men too small to let their brothers live free.  It became an admixture of their neuroses and scruples, their leverage from a distance of a great weight upon their brothers.

This weight they attempted to foist upon and trap Jesus, the Messiah.  As if to anticipate the old atheist riddle, they burdened the Son of God with a weight they imagined he could not handle.

Notice, though:  There is a rock so big that God cannot lift it.  That is, of despair.   And with so many laws, and laws upon laws, and consequences of laws that must be addressed by still more laws, one could easily find, say, lepers and paralytics and tax collectors laden with such an impossible weight.

For love of them – the lost – Jesus flares up with indignation.  His Law – an instrument of liberation – bent back upon itself and sharpened into an instrument of condemnation.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.”

 

No – the purpose and the end are God.  They always were.  It was always – dimly – the Beatific Vision, the “well done, good and faithful servant!”  The Fall was a happy fault, because God would not, even then, abandon us.  He would find a still more incredible way to point us back to Him, and deliver us.

And we might say – He’ll be damned if His own rules are going to be used against Him.  How true.


Weeds

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One of the most debated topics of philosophy and perhaps one of the biggest barriers to faith is the problem of evil. Put simply, man has a hard time reconciling a kind, loving, and just God with the pain, suffering, and evil surrounding him.

Today’s Gospel cuts straight to the heart of this matter. Here we have good seed and weeds sown together in one field. Both are watered by the spring rain. Both soak up the summer sun. Both enjoy the cultivating done by the farmer. And both take nutrients from the same soil. But weeds and good seed don’t coexist peacefully. Weeds take the water and nutrients away from the good seed. Their overgrowth can blot out the sun, depriving the good seed of the nutrients it provides. So it was natural that the farmer’s servants asked if they could pull up the weeds before they had a chance to compete with the good crop. Yet the farmer instructs the servants to wait until the harvest when the good crop and the weeds will be harvested together, with the weeds being bundled and burned.

There are two topics lately that have fallen out of favor to be preached on from the pulpit – hell and the devil. Yet these are unavoidable topics in this parable. As with all of Jesus’ parables the actors are always bigger than those he presents in His story. Jesus makes clear that the devil, the enemy of God the farmer, is the one who sows the seeds that grow into weeds. The seed is such an interesting choice of imagery as well. We know from Jesus’ other teachings that both good and evil spring forth from the heart of men – and what a better way to describe the heart of man than the seed – the very essence of life from which all else grows. When evil is in the heart of man the fruit is thorny, disruptive, harmful to the good crop, and ultimately utterly useless. Evil, left to grow, grows wildly like a weed looking to feed on and overgrow everything in its path. When the life of an evil man comes to its end – the harvest – Jesus makes it crystal clear that what awaits him is fire – the symbol of hell. And unlike a weed, which would simply burn up in the fire, the fire of hell is eternal.

At this point you might be asking, how is this fair? A seed is to grow into what is made of. A grain of wheat becomes wheat, a seed of a weed because a weed. How is the weed destined to be anything but a weed, and therefore destined for the fire?

Yet Jesus’ words once again ring true – what is impossible for man is possible for God! Only God has the power to change the heart of a man. Only God has the power to transform a weed into wheat Jesus’ life shows us time and time again that he has the power to change man’s circumstances and even their very heart. Today we will be reminded of God’s power to transform when we come to the Eucharistic table and we partake of bread and wine transformed into the body and blood of Jesus Christ. God can do this. God has done this. And God will continue to do this.

And so, God being the creator of all things, brings the rain and the sun to both the good seed and the weeds. God, through His Holy Spirit, cultivates the soil and makes it ready for harvest. And this great Farmer is patient because He knows this is more than just wheat and weeds. This field is filled with the souls of his greatest creation. And so His patience with these weeds is not at the expense of the good crop, but as 2 Peter tells us ”he is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

Let us also then be reminded that the harvest is great, but the workers are few. We live, work, and play in a field filled with good crop and weeds. Tomorrow, after we get our food for the journey today, we need to run among these fields not sidestepping the painful thorns of the weeds, but watering them with the Grace that flows from this table of plenty. Because, unlike the harvest whose time is clearly marked, the end of our days can come at any time. We need to recognize this so that we not only continue to mature into the good crop, but to realize that the weeds around us may be pulled at any time where the fire awaits them.

The great balcony in the sky

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I, like many Americans, was very saddened to hear of the passing of Roger Ebert today. No matter what my feelings were with the quality of his reviews (I feel like, later in his life, he could often be very inaccurate on basic plot tenants when providing a summary) I still felt like his reviews MEANT something. As a kid, when a movie had TWO THUMBS UP that was always a sign that the movie was going to be good. What I think I admired most about Ebert was his ability to appreciate movies as art, but to keep his reviews in line with his midwestern sensibilities, which could be counted on by the mainstream movie goer. He loved great films, high concept films, indie films and the like, but also did not punish films that were meant to be popcorn fare and would still give them the approval of the worlds most famous and influential thumb since the Roman empire.

Many of the comments on social media speak of Mr. Ebert going to that great balcony in the sky, where he will pick his argument back up with his long time sparring partner Gene Siskel , who passed away in 1999.

But to talk like that would be to blatantly disrespect Mr. Ebert. Mr. Ebert did not believe he would be going to any such place. Nor did he believe his friend would be there waiting for him. Because, to Mr. Ebert, no such place exists. Mr. Ebert understood our need to believe such a place existed; he respected that need, but found it completely improbable.

Today, when Roger Ebert smiled at his wife of 20 years and breathed his last he ceased to exist. Maybe not totally. In his own words, today he “live[s] on indefinitely in [his] constituent atoms, which will be recombined in dust, flowers, trees, the wind, other living beings, and eventually in cosmic stardust.”

In a country that wants to become completely tolerant of all views, and to allow every man and woman to make their own choice in the privacy of their own hearts, minds, and homes we must not disrespect his choice. We must not insist, contrary to his desire and will, that he lives on in a great balcony in the sky.

The balcony is closed.

I wish Mr. Ebert would’ve examined why it is we all need to believe he is with Mr. Siskel somewhere. Why we desire for two men we never have met to rekindle their friendship so they could go back to doing what they loved in this life. Why it gives us great hope and joy that the balcony somehow, someway, IS OPEN.

This innate feeling of ours – to believe in that reality of the afterlife – was just simply a premise not worth examining much* on his way to the conclusion that his atoms are now becoming cosmic dust.

So Mr. Ebert grants us these feelings, but thinks they are not founded in any form of truth. And we must respect his wishes – and in doing so we must confront the very real question – where IS Mr. Ebert now? We can comfort ourselves with our own hopes for Mr. Ebert, but we must then ask ourselves an even more important question – what do I believe about what will happen when I die?

*At least never in his public musings on the matter.

A riff on Ed’s “Sex”

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No, I will not change the title.

If you haven’t had a change to read Ed’s terrific piece entitled Sex on this very blog please take the time to do so now.

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Ok good. I was reminded of his piece when coming across this story on the WSJ. There was a quote that really struck me

Even if we no longer believe in a deity, a degree of repression is seemingly necessary to our species and to the adequate functioning of a half-way ordered and loving society.

It’s sad to me, that in a day and time when pretty much every important piece of Catholic belief and theology can be had by simply going to the Vatican website, that Catholic moral teaching on sex is still represented as “repression.” Perhaps I should forward the author Ed’s excellent piece.

Now I don’t want to completely discredit the author. He’s attempting to make an important point – one that many in our culture are afraid to mention – that porn is bad. Like, life shatteringly bad. Like, men lose their jobs, homes, and families because of it bad. Yet in an increasingly permissive culture that doesn’t want anything negative to be said about their every-type-and-kind-of-sex-and-sexual-expression-better-be-accepted-by-you-or-you’re-a-bigot  sexual worldview, it’s just another thing that “religious” folks get their panties in a bunch about. So I’m thankful that the author got the ball past the fifty on this one, but to take it all the way home the true power of Catholic teaching on Sex, the true freedoms it provides, the Truth of our bodies, our souls, and our sexuality is the way to avoid such a tempting but devastating sin. It’s not about repressing one’s sexuality, like it’s a beast that needs to be caged, it’s about living in harmony with one’s sexuality, fully integrated into your person.

Sadly, us bigots just don’t get it and want to ruin everyone’s fun. Just tell that to the literally hundreds of thousands of men (and women) who lives are in shambles – who cannot maintain an erection unless there’s a computer screen in front of them.  Who only get to see their children once a month because of women they never have (and never will) meet seduce them behind a screen, a smart phone, or an iPad.

This is the world we live in.  Call me a bigot.  Call me old fashioned.  But the truth is, the crusade against this evil is not being fought with the weapon of shame, but rather of love, compassion, and an unmistakable call to freedom, dignity, and love – all things that man has tried to “repress” since the beginning of time.  Efforts made in vain once and for all because of the glorious Resurrection of the Christ.  Repression is not the answer, freedom is.

A fleeting thought

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I question the logic of a man who believe that man’s disregard for the nature of things can change the very climate of the planet he lives on but would equally have no effect on the social fabric of which he participates in.

Except in the cases of….

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If you’re like me, you’re probably eagerly anticipating next Tuesday – voting day – not so much because you get to cast a ballot (and don’t get me wrong, that’s a super awesome responsibility) but because we can officially get out of the political cycle that inundates us with political ads, yard signs, bumper stickers, and all around annoying Facebook (and blog – irony!) posts about the election.

Of course, with every political cycle, abortion becomes a large hot button issue. And it seems like we’ve all become very accustomed to hearing the following: “Except in cases of rape or incest.” It seems that, for a pro-life candidate to seem “moderate” enough, he or she must ardently profess this exception (we will leave the life of the mother to another discussion)

I must, at this time, make something very clear: Rape is awful. As a man I find myself woefully inadequate to discuss this topic. I cannot begin to understand the complexities of rape and the damage it does to its victim.

I also want to be clear that I am not some blockhead chauvinist who completely misunderstands why this is such a weighty issue. As stated, rape is awful. It’s terrible. And – specific to gender – is a completely lopsided crime. When a man rapes a woman, he suffers no noticeable temporal consequences. Yet a woman who is raped, and if conception happens during rape, now has a 9 month burden that can imperil her life, her ability as a wage earner, and cause her unspeakable psychological damage.

With that caveat out of the way:

Along comes Todd Akin and “legitimate rape.” There’s no way to justify that man’s ignorance on this subject. And I won’t waste a lot of screen time doing so. But, unfortunately, his comments have put flesh on the straw man argument against such a rape exception.

And what this means is, a slightly more nuanced view – like Richard Mourdock’s – ends up getting lumped together with Mr. Akin. Which is an incredible shame.

Now I don’t know Mr. Mourdock or his politics, but I do feel like we must examine what he said, and furthermore examine his clarification.

Here is what he said exactly:

“I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize life is that gift from God. And I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.”

Now let’s be fair to the man and realize that he was on live television in the context of a debate and a big red “time is out” flashing light in front of him. His words, at first glance, do lack nuance and can be incredibly misconstrued.

If you examine the comment you might have two questions “Did that man just say that rape is intended by God?” or “Did that man just say that life that comes from rape is intended by God?”

I think anyone with any semblance of charity and sanity can easily dismiss the first question. (However if you still struggle, here is how he clarified his remarks:
“God creates life, and that was my point. God does not want rape, and by no means was I suggesting that he does. Rape is a horrible thing, and for anyone to twist my words otherwise is absurd and sick.”)

And so it makes us truly examine what we believe about life. Is all life sacred? Is God involved in the creation of every new life? Or does God only involve himself in “wanted” pregnancies, but recuse himself from “unwanted” pregnancies and pregnancies that are the result of rape?

And if we dare say that God is involved in the creation of every new life. And we have the courage to profess that all life (born AND unborn) is sacred, then is Mr. Mourdock really that off base?

But of course those making civil law may object to the above paragraph. So let’s take God out of the equation for a moment (silly, and ontologically impossible, but let’s try).

What makes a society just? Is not the protection of the most innocent life just? Is not protecting the rights of innocent life, who in no way can fight for itself, just? And furthermore, can two wrongs make a right? Can the abortion of a life created by means of rape ever make right the absolute injustice of rape?

It can be tempting to think that it is moral to allow for the “exception in the case of rape.” To think that “This is awful and completely unfair, in just this case abortion should be legal to even the score” but again we have to ask the same question – can two wrongs make a right? Can fighting injustice with another injustice lead us to believe that we are a just society? *

As believers or non-believers we must answer those questions. As Catholics we are then bound furthermore by our belief in the sanctity of all life.

And as people of good will, if we think this through and realize that justice must be done, we then must do all that we can to support a woman through her pregnancy. We must find every conceivable way to reduce her burden and suffering and to do everything we can to care for the child, whether it is kept or given up for adoption.

That is true justice. THOSE are the kind of services that a government should be funding at nearly half a billion dollars a year. And punitively we must find a way for the agressor to pay his fair share as well. Punitively rape should not only be met with jail time but financial punishments as well that can be paid to the woman to help in the care of her unborn child.

Sadly – the political machine lacks any ability for real dialog, and Mr. Mourdock becomes just like Mr. Akin in the eyes of many, but the uncomfortable issue of rape and abortion will continue to be there – and we must all have an answer for it. Not only to inform our consciences on how to vote, but to also help direct us towards the common good of supporting women who are victimized in such a terrible way, and also to support and sustain the gift that life, even life conceived in such a way, is to the world.

P.S. This post was written on an Apple computer, founded by a man who was given up for adoption.

 

* I had wanted to make the following case, but I felt like it hurt the flow of the blog post but I didn’t want the thought to go away.  As a society it seems like we are on a course to try to “unbelieve” there are any real differences between a man and a woman.  And I think this issue makes us come more in touch with created reality.  That the overwhelming lack of fairness in the consequences that a female victim of rape can suffer are a sign of how different we are as man and woman.  And I wonder if that plays into the issue at all.  I wonder how much this “exception” tries to also correct this “lack of balance”  That, if we can just abort the consequence a way, we can truly try to make man and woman the same.  And this is what happens when a society desires sameness – instead of equality – between genders.