Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘by Father Joseph’ Category

*America is Selling Her Soul to the Devil

Posted in *Faith / Church, *Life Issues, by All Sources, by Father Joseph on November 12, 2012 |

(by Father Joseph) Much gloating revelry could be heard around the country after election day, as the wheels of the machinery of the culture of death were greased in a major way.  You know the news: our country’s most anti-life, anti-family, anti-Christian president in history was re-elected by millions of media-brainwashed people, who are heading like mindless lemmings to the precipice of catastrophe, that of their own souls and American society as such. Continue reading here.

Read Full Post »

*Sing a New Song

Posted in *Faith / Church, by All Sources, by Father Joseph on January 2, 2012 |

By Father Joseph Homick

Well, here we are at the beginning of 2012.  Every time a new year arrives, I marvel that I am still here, because for some reason I have the impression as each new year arrives that it will be my last.  It seems that quite a few people are expecting the world to end this year, though I suppose there are some people somewhere that are expecting the world to end every year.  Though we do not know the day or the hour, I think it is not likely that the world will end in 2012. Judging by the evidence of the past 4.5 billion years of the earth’s existence, the odds are against it (note too that every prediction of the imminent end of the world, without exception, has thus far proven quite obviously false).  Yet the world will end this year for approximately 55 million people, who will leave this world by dying before we ring in the next new year. (You can help save at least a few of them by clicking here.) So if we cannot cry out “the end is near!” for all without exception, we can do so for quite a few, many of whom are probably not expecting this at all.

What is all this supposed to mean?  Don’t ask me; I haven’t yet figured out why my heart is still beating and how I managed to get out of bed this morning.  But it does seem to indicate the precariousness of this life and hence the necessity of not being heedless of the life to come and the account we will have to make to God when there are no more new years left to us in this present world.

What, then, shall we do with the time that remains?  We see often in the Bible the exhortation, “Sing a new song unto the Lord!”  I think maybe we should do that this year.  I’m guessing that God is probably growing just a tad weary of the “same old song and dance” that we present year after year.  Maybe we should do something different this year.

What are some of the ways in which we can sing a new song to the Lord in 2012?  Well, you have to look at your own experience and examine your own conscience, but some general suggestions apply to most of us.  Are you, for example, holding a grudge against someone?  Do something new—get over it, forgive and move on; you’ll have more peace and God will be pleased with the melody of this new song.  Do you tend to overeat or overdrink or overspend or over-anything?  OK, stop all that.  Sing a new song.  Practice some self-discipline, get some outside help if you need it, and use whatever you save to help the poor, who can’t afford to over-indulge in anything.

How about the under-stuff?  Do you under-pray, under-fast, under-bless, under-thank, under-serve, etc?  Time to sing a new song; time to get your priorities in order and put the Kingdom of God and his righteousness first.  These things aren’t just “helpful hints”; they are essential for the health of your soul and hence for your preparation for eternal life.  Hey, who says you’re not going to be one of the 55 million who will “cash in and check out” sometime this year?  Don’t kid yourself; it’s later than you think.

Look at other stuff, too: the way you relate to family, friends, co-workers, etc, what you do for your own enjoyment versus what you sacrifice for the sake of others, what corners you cut for convenience’ sake.  There’s a lot of housecleaning to do, if you turn on the lights and look around.  Lots of new songs to learn!

I’m going to keep this post short.  After all, you might not be feeling too well after the weekend’s excesses.  All the more reason to realize that the same old song and dance just don’t work for the long haul.  Think about the new song you’d like to sing unto the Lord, or better yet, ask Him what new song He would like to hear from you.  Whether or not 2012 is going to be the last year for you or for us all, by God’s grace and our determined efforts to please Him, it can indeed be a very good year.

*Father Joseph’s Marvelous Reflections

*Subscribe to this blog

Read Full Post »

*Power Comes Forth

Posted in *Faith / Church, by All Sources, by Father Joseph on November 6, 2011 |

By Father Joseph Homick

Jesus is proclaimed today as the One who heals the sick and raises the dead (Lk. 8:41-56), but there is more to this Gospel than meets the eye.  For the things that the Lord has done, though quite astonishing even if only considered in their original contexts of time and place, have a value beyond the fact of miracles once worked.  This is because when we celebrate the mysteries of Christ in the Divine Liturgy, we not only remember and glorify Him for what He has done in the past, but we try to open ourselves to what He is doing, or wants to do, here and now in our own lives.  And this is oftentimes every bit as miraculous as what He did when He walked the earth in the flesh.

We know these Gospel accounts quite well by now: Jesus healed the bleeding woman when she touched his garment with faith, and He raised from the dead the young maiden who was the daughter of Jairus, a synagogue official.  What we need to know a little better is what these miracles have to teach us.  We also need to recognize more clearly the presence of Him who still walks among us through the power and grace of his Holy Spirit, and who desires to heal and raise us up as well.

We probably can’t imagine very well what it was like for that woman to have been hemorrhaging for twelve years, spending all her money on doctors who couldn’t help her.  It is true that there are many people who suffer from chronic afflictions today, but this particular case was not only a painful and exhausting condition, it was also one that rendered her ritually unclean, which meant that she was excluded from joining in the worship of God with his chosen people.  So it must have seemed like a curse to her, a sign of God’s wrath, an indication that she had been rejected by Him.  Yet something in her heart must have told her that no, God is compassionate and merciful; God will heal her if her prayer proves to be acceptable.

So with trembling, yet with the boldness of the desperate, she approached God Incarnate, Jesus of Nazareth, whom she believed bore within Himself the power of God to heal.  She did not want to defile Him by touching his body, so she reasoned that she could find healing simply by touching the hem of his garment, and so her faith moved her to stretch out her hand.  She was instantly healed as she touched his garment.  As St Mark puts it: “immediately the hemorrhage ceased, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.”

This is the only case I know of in the Gospels in which someone was healed without Jesus directly willing or acting to perform the miracle.  The woman’s faith was so strong that God the Father evidently intervened to heal the woman without first consulting his Son!  Jesus was immediately aware, however, that power had gone forth from Him, and so he knew that someone had accessed this power by means of faith.  So He asked, “Who touched me?”  The disciples didn’t get it, because they pointed out that all kinds of people in the crowd were pressing against Him.  What He meant was, “Who touched me with such faith that my power was drawn forth from me?”  When the woman realized she was not to go unnoticed, she proclaimed to all what she had done and how she was healed.

There are several ways in which we might see ourselves in that afflicted woman.  Even if we aren’t physically sick, we might feel that for various reasons our life is draining out of us, that we are exhausted and unwell, unable to find peace or healing.  We may feel in a metaphorical sense that we are slowly bleeding to death, simply because life’s trials and hardships and demands take an ever-greater toll upon us.  Or maybe we are stuck in some sin, like the ritual uncleanness of the woman that barred her from joining in the worship of the people of God.  If we are in a state of mortal sin we are barred from the life-giving sacrament of the Holy Eucharist until we repent and receive absolution and resolve to change our lives.

Whatever our affliction may be, we know where to turn, we know to whom we can reach out to find healing and mercy.  We also have some distinct advantages which that ancient righteous woman did not have.  Jesus is now accessible to us at all times and places, and therefore we don’t have to work our way through a crowd in order to reach Him, so we can at least begin to “connect” with Him through faith and prayer.  But the real healing will come through the sacraments. Once our sins are forgiven through confession, we can approach the Eucharistic chalice with confidence and faith and love.  And then a miracle happens.  If we have felt the slow bleed of a life being drained of its joy and strength, suddenly the Blood of Jesusflows into us!   The power that comes forth from Him as we come to touch Him in Holy Communion is the power of his Sacrifice, his body broken and his blood poured out to take away the sins of the world.  There is a ceaseless flow of Precious Blood and Living Water pouring forth mystically and sacramentally from his pierced Heart, and He invites us to come and receive mercy and healing and new life from Him, who laid down his life for us only to take it up again, glorified, able now to heal every sick, sinful, suffering human being, if only we would come to Him in faith and loving trust.

Did I say He laid down his life for us?  Let me correct myself: He laid down his life for you, and He laid it down for me.  This is something very important, and St Paul emphasizes this in today’s epistle (Gal. 2:16-20).  He says that he lives “by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”  The “me” isn’t meant to be selfish or exclusive, for he means for each of us to say the same thing.  He just doesn’t want us to get the impression that Christ died for the abstraction known as “humanity,” nor did He die merely for a huge anonymous mass of beings that swarm over this planet.  He died for each individual “me,” whom He knows and loves personally, uniquely.  That means we are faced with an inescapable truth, a dramatic confrontation with this incredibly powerful, beautiful, holy, intensely loving Person, who places Himself squarely before us, saying: “I loved you and gave myself for you; I have known and loved you since I created you in your mother’s womb; I suffered and died for you in order to take away your sins and welcome youinto Paradise, even though you continue to grieve and hurt and offend Me.  I refuse, however, to take back My love, and so the saving power of my Sacrifice stands perpetually before My Father.  I offer My love again to you today.  Do you have anything to say to Me?”

This is where I should stop and let you reflect on this and give your personal answer, but fool that I am, I will go on talking.  I think you’ll need more time than the perpetual motion of our Liturgy provides, anyway.  But don’t forget to do this in your private prayer; it is indispensable for your deeper life in Christ.  I often come face to face, as it were, with this mystery, since I have a large image of the face of Christ from the Shroud of Turin before which I regularly pray.  He doesn’t say anything; He doesn’t have to.  The serene majesty of his holy face, bearing bloodstains and other marks of his Passion, says it all: “This is how I have loved you.”

St Paul was able to understand and receive the deeply personal and all-consuming love of Jesus for two reasons, which are so inseparable as to be one.  First he says that he is crucified with Christ.  The Greek term (synestavromai) is in the perfect passive form, which means he has been, and remains, crucified with Christ.  Another English translation is more graphic: “I have been nailed to the cross with Christ.”  This is a union that demands more than faith; it demands the offering of one’s entire life, body and soul.  And because of this self-offering in response to Jesus’ self-offering, we come to the next reason: “I live now, not I, but Christ lives in me.”  This is a union both sacramental and mystical, for it begins with baptism into Jesus’ paschal mystery, is nourished with the abiding Eucharistic presence, and is continuously extended through faith, prayer, sacrifice, and all that makes up the self-oblation of those who truly want to know the love of Jesus and respond in the fullest way possible.

I haven’t yet talked about the raising of Jairus’ daughter, but I’m already getting near the end.  Just a couple things we ought to hear, and though we know them, we need to hear them again and again.  When the situation seemed hopeless—and what hope can one have for physical healing when the sick loved one dies?—Jesus still encouraged them: “Do not fear; only believe, and she shall be well.”  This doesn’t mean that if we have dying friends or relatives, Jesus is going to raise them from the dead as soon as they die.  He will raise them on the last day—though even in our day there are some rare divine interventions like what we have heard in the Gospel.  But this counsel to abandon fear and embrace faith and trust applies to countless situations in our lives, and the power of resurrection can be applied to our souls long before the time when all the dead are called forth from their graves.

God is able to work miracles in our souls, and if we let Him, He will.  Sometimes it takes many years, not because it is too difficult for God or because He is busy with other things, but because it is often the case that many different elements have to be in place before the healing or inner resurrection can happen. It may be that weare busy with other things, and are not giving sufficient attention to our relationship with Him.  There may be things we still have to learn, things we have to experience, certain obstacles—especially if they are related to sin—that have to be overcome, or at least vigorously renounced.  A certain level of openness of heart and mind and soul may have to be attained.

But when God sees that we are ready—and once we make every effort to dispose ourselves to God’s grace and get ready—miracles begin to happen.  Like the woman who felt Jesus’ power entering her, and all through her body she felt that she was healed, there will come a moment when divine grace enters us in such a way that we realize that we have been healed, that something unmistakable, undeniable, has happened.  We will sense that we have crossed a line, taken a step, entered into a new level of spiritual life, never to return to where we were before.  It will be like rising from the dead.  In the midst of our spiritual emptiness or the groggy half-sleep of our struggling souls, and as if a response to our cries to God in raw, naked faith, we will hear the gentle but powerful voice: “Child, arise!”

Then we will know Him who loved us and gave Himself for us.  It will no longer be we who live, but it will be Christ who lives in us.  If we accept to be nailed to the Cross with Him, He will raise us up.  In this life the mysteries of his Cross and his Resurrection co-exist in our souls, one or another manifesting predominantly as the Lord chooses.  It the next life it is all Resurrection, though we will never forget that this is the fruit of the Precious Cross.

So let us reach out to the Lord in our need, through faith, prayer, Confession and Communion, so that his power, the power of his love poured out as Precious Blood, will flow into us, healing us, raising up our souls, so that He lives in us and we in Him.  And we will know it; we will feel it; and we will never look back.

*Father Joseph’s Marvelous Reflections

*Subscribe to this blog

Read Full Post »

*Salvation and the Works of Love

Posted in *Faith / Church, by All Sources, by Father Joseph on March 13, 2011 |

By Father Joseph

We’re only about a week away from Lent, and so the Church is getting serious about our preparation, placing before us the ultimate consequences of our either doing God’s will or failing to do it.

Johnny and Mary Mullins are here with us today, to celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary, and we might wonder why God has arranged for the Gospel of the Last Judgment (Mt. 25:31-46) to be read on this happy occasion!   But perhaps this is appropriate after all.  In a sense, every major decision we make in this life is made as before the judgment seat of God, because we are striving to do his will, and we seek his wisdom and his blessing upon our vocations, for we do not want to do anything that would displease Him.  The prayer that we priests pray before each Divine Liturgy, which in the version we use here says we come before his awesome altar, reads, in another version, that we come before his awesome judgment seat every time we offer the Holy Sacrifice.  So we all stand before God in the events and decisions of our lives, hopefully so that we will find ourselves standing without blame before his judgment seat at the end of our lives.

This Gospel is not readily accepted by some, especially non-Catholics.  I’ll have to give some background here.  I read an article in a recent issue of Christianity Todaythat just confirms what kind of errors people can fall into when they separate themselves from the Spirit-guided teaching authority of the Catholic Church.  I would hardly have been able to believe this if it had not been confirmed by people I know who have personally experienced it.  The issue is this: many Protestants focus much more on the words of St Paul than they do on the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ!  The article recounts the experience (which is evidently quite common) of a man who, in growing up, almost never heard a sermon on the Gospels, only on the epistles of St Paul.  Then, when he eventually entered a seminary, the great problem was how to fit the teachings of Jesus into the theology of Paul.  Does something seem wrong with this picture?  Um, I think we’re supposed to realize that St Paul was a servant of Jesus, that Jesus is the eternal Word and Wisdom of God, and therefore that everyone else has to fit into what Jesus has said.  The Catholic Church has always given priority to the Gospels for precisely that reason, and it should be a no-brainer that the words of Jesus are absolute truth and can never be subordinated to the words of any of his disciples, and any interpretation of the epistles cannot be legitimately employed to minimize the force of Jesus’ own words.  Of course, all of Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit, and if one accepts the writings of St Paul in their entirety, instead of focusing only on certain passages that deal with salvation through faith, then Jesus and Paul are quite compatible indeed, as the Church has always held.

So what does all this have to do with the Gospel of the Last Judgment?  It is something that Protestants don’t want to hear, and I’ve experienced this in conversations: Jesus explicitly states that salvation and damnation depend on what we do, not merely on what we believe.  He says that if we see Him in others and minister to them accordingly we will be welcomed into Heaven; if we don’t, we will have to go to Hell.  He does not present faith as the criterion for salvation, nor prayer, nor anything at all except love—love which is expressed in practical ways, meeting the urgent needs of our fellow human beings, for Jesus’ sake.  Let us remember that these are the words of the Son of God, and as such they are absolutely, unequivocally true.  If St Paul hadn’t been embroiled in controversies with those who insisted that Christians must obey all the precepts of the law of Moses in order to be saved—and hence had to overemphasize certain counter-arguments—there would never have arisen the falsely-perceived opposition between the teachings of Jesus and Paul.

Let us then try to understand more fully the meaning of Jesus’ teaching about what makes for salvation and what makes for damnation, for there is no more important issue than this for our eternal destiny.

First of all, we can say that in the Christian life love presupposes faith.  If we don’t have faith in Christ, we are not going to accept that He identifies with the poor and needy, and we are not going to serve them for his sake.  So if we don’t begin by believing that Christ is the Savior of our souls, who died and rose to forgive our sins and to open the gates of Paradise to those who would follow Him, we’ll never even get onto the narrow path to the Kingdom of Heaven.  But merely believing these things is only the beginning of our life in Christ, and it does not guarantee our salvation.  The whole faith/works controversy is really a non-issue for the true Christian.  Instead of opposing faith and works, we should simply affirm that if faith is true faith, then faith works.  Genuine faith is applied faith, it is faith that proves itself by practical expressions of it.  Even St Paul, in the very epistle many use to insist on salvation by faith alone, says that the only thing that “is of any avail,” is “faith working through love” (Gal. 5:6).

This is why Jesus presents love as the criterion for our judgment, and hence of our eternal destiny.  Scripture is very clear on this: if we believe in Jesus, we will love Him.  To love Him is to keep his commandments.  If we read the Gospels—and the epistles as well—we will see that keeping his commandments entails doing good to our brothers and sisters for his sake.  If we fail to do good to others for his sake, we will lose our immortal souls forever.  Jesus gave a concise summary of what is necessary for salvation when He was asked what one must do to inherit eternal life: love God and love your neighbor (see Lk. 10:25-28).

So let us look at this love which is the chief criterion for the judgment of our lives before God.  According to St John, if we say we love God, but do not love our brothers and sisters, we are liars (1Jn. 4:20).  And according to both St John and St James, if we say we believe in God and love our brothers and sisters, but do nothing of a practical nature to help them in their need, we are frauds and not headed for eternal life (1Jn. 3:17-18; James 2:14-17).  Therefore it is clear that love is a matter neither of words nor of warm feelings, but rather of deeds.  If love is not manifested in deeds, it is not love at all; it is a sham, it is self-deception.

That is why Jesus gave very practical examples of how we are to be judged.  He doesn’t say: you didn’t have warm feelings for Me, you didn’t speak sweet words to Me.  Rather, He says: you didn’t feed Me when I was hungry, or give Me drink when I was thirsty, or take care of Me when I was sick.  It is fine to have warm feelings for Jesus and to speak sweet words to Him—but not as a replacement for the demands of true Christian life.

Jesus identifies with everyone who is an “other” in our lives, especially those who stand in need of our practical expressions of love.  And He gives a teaching that we don’t usually like to hear, and quite quickly forget even when we have heard it: “What you do to these, you do to Me.” These brothers and sisters of Jesus, with whom He personally identifies, begin with those closest to us, but include others as well.  For married couples: the way you treat your spouse is the way you treat Jesus.  For families: the way you treat your children, or the way you treat your parents, is the way you treat Jesus.  For monks: the way you treat your brothers is the way you treat Jesus.  We can always have a “yes, but…” answer for this, but I don’t think “yes, but…” is an acceptable response at the judgment seat of Christ.

Then there are others who really may need to be fed, clothed, and taken care of in their basic needs.  Since we live in an affluent society, these are often far from our notice, yet through modern means of communication they lay at our gates like Lazarus at the gate of the rich man.  How can we say no to a starving child in Haiti or Sudan or India?  We are saying no to Jesus.  So we must be generous.  We obviously cannot solve the crisis of world hunger or disease out of our own meager bank accounts, but we can always give more than we are comfortable giving, for Jesus is going to ask us if we fed and clothed Him in his poor brothers and sisters, and He will demand an answer.

If we have no material means at all, we can pray and sacrifice for the least of Jesus’ brethren.  Not just perfunctory prayers, but prayer from the heart, prayer through which we feel the anguish of those who are suffering, and offer this to God to win blessings for them.  If we pray for the hungry we should also fast, so we know what it is like to be hungry, at least for a time, and so our prayers will be more heartfelt and fruitful.  This is faith working through love, and this is love that is genuine because it is expressed in deeds, and therefore it will rank us among the blessed of the Father, whom Jesus joyfully invites to inherit the Kingdom prepared for us since the foundation of the world.

The three main pillars of Lenten observance are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.  I’ve already recommended them all as ways of living our faith, of loving in practice.  But works done merely to satisfy a requirement, or which are done grudgingly or self-righteously, are not expressions of faith working through love.  Perhaps this is what St Paul was opposed to, and Jesus was as well.  We are not saved merely by placing this or that act in order to make God indebted to us, so that He is then required to reward us.  No, the works we do flow from our faith in God and from our faithfulness to the Great Commandment: to love God with all our heart and to love our neighbors as ourselves.  So our attitudes and motivations will also be brought before the judgment seat of God.  No one pulls the wool over God’s eyes, for He is the Searcher of Hearts, and that is precisely what He is going to do on judgment day.  He’s going to look at what we have done, and also at why and how we have done it.  He’s going to see if our treasure, and hence our hearts, have been with Him in Heaven, and if we have proved this by the way we have lived.   Only then will we be invited to share in eternal life and joy.

So let us take the message of this Sunday seriously, and as we enter the final week of preparation for Lent, let us reflect upon the words of the Son of God and put them into practice.  Let us not be like those who ignore them or reduce their significance for our salvation, simply because they prefer certain passages from St Paul!  There is no opposition between faith and works, but rather the true life in Christ is faith working through love.

Source

RELATED:

Responding to His Call to Love

By Fredi D’Alessio

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.” (Mt 22:37-40)

In a previous writing View from the Top), I quoted a reflection by Pope John Paul II on praying the Rosary, which succinctly presents us with the domestic and foreign policy we are called by God to embrace:

The Rosary is also a prayer for peace because of the fruits of charity which it produces. When prayed well in a truly meditative way, the Rosary leads to an encounter with Christ in his mysteries and so cannot fail to draw attention to the face of Christ in others, especially in the most afflicted.

How could one possibly contemplate the mystery of the Child of Bethlehem, in the joyful mysteries, without experiencing the desire to welcome, defend and promote life, and to shoulder the burdens of suffering children all over the world?

How could one possibly follow in the footsteps of Christ the Revealer, in the mysteries of light, without resolving to bear witness to his “Beatitudes” in daily life?

How could one contemplate Christ carrying the Cross and Christ Crucified, without feeling the need to act as a ‘Simon of Cyrene’ for our brothers and sisters weighed down by grief or crushed by despair?

Finally, how could one possibly gaze upon the glory of the Risen Christ or of Mary, Queen of Heaven, without yearning to make this world more beautiful, more just, more closely conformed to God’s plan?


All of the ‘fruits of charity’ above – products of our “encounter with Christ in his mysteries” – must not be allowed to perish. They become useless if stored away. We must give them away by living them out in our daily lives – by acting upon the desires, resolves, feelings, and yearnings which they evoke. It would be helpful if we include the Holy Father’s reflection as part of our intentions when we begin to pray the Rosary. We must make them our own, and because we must have an intimate knowledge of ourselves, it would also be helpful to examine our progress.

As individuals we may feel incapable of doing great things. If we agree with Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, “We can do no great things; only small things with great love”, we can begin to give serious consideration to the question of what we can do in response to the call to love.

Needed first, perhaps, is an increased spirit of joy. An Advent meditation suggests that in order to cultivate a joyful spirit, we must first reject self-pity. It goes on to say “the daily news reports can be toxic. Too much exposure to the woes of the world can be damaging to your mental health, as well as your spirit of joy”, and suggests we limit our television viewing. There are many good reasons for us to limit that very intake, but doing so in order to shield ourselves from the woes of the world may actually leave us committing a deplorable act of self-pity.

We cannot empty ourselves of self-pity by focusing on ourselves, by turning our backs on others or burying our heads in the sand. We cannot risk deceiving ourselves into believing that if we do not see the horrors which many of our brothers and sisters throughout the world are daily confronted with, they are not happening. That is to inadvertently risk exempting us from caring enough about their plights to help. Surely if members of our immediate families were suffering, we would not risk ‘tuning them out’ so that we would not have to suffer with them. Shall we then tune out any others? Rather, we need to tune ourselves out and tune the world in.

God arranged for us to be on this earth during these times – times in which technology enables us to be informed about what is happening to our brethren all over the world. In many ways, perhaps there isn’t enough coverage of the most serious woes of the world.

We should share in the sorrows of those who are suffering. We cannot allow ourselves to be overcome by sadness, but we should be appalled when others suffer due to injustice, negligence or contempt. Being emotionally deaf, dumb and blind to the world will not bring us joy. In order to answer the call to love, we must balance our emotions – not bury them or hide from them. We would do well to develop a deeply devotional prayer regimen on our neighbors’ behalf with the hope that one day we may share their joys.

To avoid cultivating a selfish joy, we must respond to the simple call to love. Then, merely seeing a smile on another’s face could bring us immense joy, especially if circumstances have prevented this person from smiling for a very long time.

But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion, and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; then he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back’. Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed mercy on him.” And Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” (Lk 10:29-37

Just as the Good Samaritan acted, Blessed Mother Teresa (a foreigner in Calcutta) did not pass by her abandoned brethren lying in the streets while asking God to have mercy on them. She took action. She became instrumental and brought God’s mercy to them.

In the Peace Prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, we ask God to make us instruments of his peace in sowing love, pardon, truth, faith, hope, light, and joy. We also ask that we have less concern for our own feelings and more concern for the feelings of others. We acknowledge that it is in giving that we receive, in pardoning that we are pardoned and in dying to self that we are born to eternal life.

Certainly we are confronted with many obstacles that limit and conflict with our ability to respond to the simple call to love. We should ask Our Lord daily, perhaps during our Communion prayer, to remove from within and about us everything that is an obstacle to our sanctification and in conflict with his Holy Will.

One very prominent obstacle that hinders our response is resentment. This feeling of ill will is toxic to the ‘fruits of charity’. This lingering anger chokes our hearts with living thorns, so that when the seeds of the fruits of charity are sown among those thorns, they prove unfruitful. Resentment needs to be conquered by the very love – the antidote – that it has grown resistant to. Although it may seem nearly impossible to overcome, it isn’t; we can chip away at resentment one Rosary bead at a time.

These actions will also bring forth a greater response to the call to love:

* To become more conscious of the feelings of others and, in being less defensive of our own, to open our hearts to them.

* To become more thankful for our possessions and, in being less attached to them, to share them with others.

* To become more thankful for our talents and, being less selfish with them, to use them in our service to others.

* To become more aware of our shortcomings and, being less judgmental of others, to pray that we are not put to the test.

* To become more aware of and empathetic to the problems of others and, being less focused on our own, to more greatly empty ourselves of self-pity.

* To become more helpful to others and, while being less expectant of our receiving in return, to purify our intentions.

* To become more informed about ways to help in our parishes and communities and, being less preoccupied with our own interests, to participate in some and truly improve life for those around us.

In all of the above we will find opportunities for fulfilling those corporal and spiritual works of mercy to which He calls us: feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, burying the dead, counseling the doubtful, instructing the ignorant, admonishing sinners, comforting the afflicted, forgiving offenses, bearing wrongs patiently, praying for the living and the dead.

When we serve our sisters and brothers we serve God:

Then the King will say to those at his right hand, “Come, O blessed of 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, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” (Mt 25:34-36)

Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me… Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me. (Mt 25:40,45)

In the Penitential Rite we confess that we have sinned in what we have done and in what we have failed to do. May we strive to shorten both of these lists.

Oh, that today you would hear his voice: Harden not your hearts. (Heb 4:7) If today we hear his voice, let us respond to His call with a loving heart – by giving away the ‘fruits of charity’ as we live them out in our daily lives.

In responding prayerfully, actively, joyfully to the simple call to love, we cannot fail to “make this world more beautiful, more just, more closely conformed to God’s plan”.

As individuals we can do little things with great love, and as a nation we can do greater things with great love. We can be a great people – people of truth, light, forgiveness, joy, life, peace, faith, hope, love – people of God.

Originally published at TCRNews.com

+++

Conclusion to:

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE WORLD DAY OF PEACE 1 JANUARY 2004

Christians know that love is the reason for God’s entering into relationship with man. And it is love, which he awaits as man’s response. Consequently, love is also the loftiest and most noble form of relationship possible between human beings. Love must thus enliven every sector of human life and extend to the international order. Only a humanity in which there reigns the “civilization of love” will be able to enjoy authentic and lasting peace.

At the beginning of a New Year I wish to repeat to women and men of every language, religion and culture the ancient maxim: “Omnia vincit amor” (Love conquers all). Yes, dear Brothers and Sisters throughout the world, in the end love will be victorious! Let everyone be committed to hastening this victory. For it is the deepest hope of every human heart. – JOHN PAUL II

Read Full Post »

*A Place Prepared by God

Posted in *Faith / Church, by All Sources, by Father Joseph, by Fredi D'Alessio on January 1, 2011 |

My review of Abbot Joseph’s book, A Place Prepared by God: Through the Virgin Mary, the New Eve, Paradise Will Not Fail Twice:

The editorial description on the back cover (copied below for your convenience) accurately explains the purpose of this book and gives a high level overview of its contents. But neither it nor I can do justice to how the author accomplished his goals. I’ve no doubt that his (our) Mother had her hand in this particular accomplishment.

If you think you don’t need another devotional book about Mary or Christianity or Redemption (all three are inseparable), don’t be so sure. This book isn’t just another pretty and consoling spiritual book; it is a catechism (not in style, but substance) of our Blessed Mother, our Christian faith and our Redemption.

This book will help those who already possess an abundance of Marian knowledge and share an intimate relationship with Mary increase both the quantity and quality of those treasures.

Abbot Joseph is exceptional at making complex themes easy to read about. Because there are countless themes to savor and reflect on, you may want to read this book more than once and certain portions of it perhaps many times.

This book is a beautiful and exciting read, truly outstanding. It is often hard to put down, but one must in order to benefit most by what was just read and not allow that to be overcome by all that is to follow. So read it through once and then begin anew.

For those who know little of Mary and would like to learn more about her, this book will make much more than an excellent first step toward that end. Catholics and non-Catholics will be enlightened and blessed as they read about the mysteries of Mary’s life, her relationship to us, her protection over us, and her intercession for us. This is not a narrative about she who is Full of Grace; it is a guide for us to be all that we are called to be.

When explaining a particular mystery, Abbot Joseph wrote: “The deeper you go into God, the clearer it will become.” I can tell you that the more you read Abbot Joseph’s works, the deeper you will go into God.

To love someone, we must know them. By means of this book Abbot Joseph exclaims with Jesus, “Behold your Mother.”

Thank you Abbot Joseph.

In case you haven’t yet read the editorial description, I’m including it below for your convenience.

“A Place Prepared by God is more than a book of reflections on the mystery of the Mother of God. A personal experience of the presence of Our Lady prompted Abbot Joseph to write something to help make her better known and loved. Mary is offered to us by God not merely for our admiration or veneration, but as a real, living Mother with whom we can personally relate, in whose loving company we can walk on the way to the Kingdom of Heaven. Through these pages, you will discover a Woman whom you have perhaps not sufficiently understood before, who shines through the pages of Scripture and the whole experience of the Church, and who invites you to a richer spiritual life. Peppered with personal experiences and a bit of poetry, along with an additional perspective from the Byzantine tradition, this book is more engaging than a standard treatise on Our Lady. When you learn what God has really meant her to be, for the whole world and for you personally, you will surely come to her and allow her to bring you to Jesus.”

+++

If you decide to purchase this marvelous book, please consider ordering directly from the author. You’ll be offering more support for Mt. Tabor Monastery – Amazon takes 55% right off the top! Click here for details.

Read Full Post »

*Mercy vs. Tolerance

Posted in *Faith / Church, by All Sources, by Father Joseph on November 14, 2010 |

by Abbot Joseph

[You can read this at Word Incarnate or continue below.]

Jesus is intolerant.  What?  How can I say such a thing?  After reading the Gospel accounts of his associating with prostitutes and tax-collectors, how can I say He is intolerant?  I only say it because it is true.  I also truly say He is merciful, which is something quite other than being tolerant.  In our liturgy we often call the Lord “the Merciful One” or “the Compassionate One,” but He is never called “the Tolerant One.”

Tolerance, as the term is widely applied today, signifies the degeneration of the moral sense of an individual or a society.  This is because the distinction between good and evil is ignored or belittled.  One ought, however (in a different use of the term), be willing to tolerate another’s honest opinions or even personality quirks, as long as there is no sin involved, simply out of charity and patience.  But the tolerance that is demanded of us by the secular media, government, and society, and even some religious figures, is something else. It is turning a blind eye toward evil, and these champions of tolerance end up employing a double standard by being brutally intolerant of anyone who points this out or who speaks the truth about Christian morality.

Aside from the explicit agendas of those who knowingly promote evil under the guise of tolerance, the phenomenon of this “secular virtue” indicates a loss of the sense of sin.  This is why Jesus is merciful but not tolerant: He knows what sin is and calls it by name.  He is completely intolerant of all evil, but He will forgive it all, because He is merciful.  Yet here’s the rub for today’s advocates of tolerance: they have to repent in order to receive the Lord’s mercy.  This they do not wish to do, for then they would have to admit that they had done something wrong.  And that takes the wind out of the sails of their promotion of immoral agendas.

It has been said that after Vatican II, the faithful were invited to believe in a merciful God rather than a just or (I shudder to say) “judgmental” God.  But those who think that the pre-Vatican II God and the post-Vatican II God bear little resemblance to each other do not really want a merciful God after all.  They want a tolerant one.

See what has happened. Has Vatican II declared that fornication is no longer a sin, abortion no longer a sin, homosexual activity no longer a sin, disregard for the laws of the Church no longer a sin?  Of course not.  Nothing has changed in the moral order.  God will still forgive these sins when we sincerely repent of them, and He will still punish us for them if we don’t.  So it isn’t that God has suddenly become merciful as the times have changed.  The advocates of today’s “evolved” morality have just decided that sin is no longer sin.  Therefore (though they won’t put it this way), God doesn’t need to be merciful anymore, only tolerant.

A priest in El Paso, Texas, gained some notoriety not long ago by writing a few newspaper columns in which he explained and defended the Church’s teaching on homosexual behavior.  Even the mayor of the city became publicly indignant, asserting that his city was one that expressed “tolerance and diversity,” so bigots like this anachronistic priest ought not make themselves heard in the public square.  There was a gay-rights activist on hand (an ex-Catholic, as he himself admitted), who said that he expected that the Church would teach love and forgiveness, and not discrimination and intolerance.  But he made the mistake of saying “forgiveness,” which the Church does teach and readily practices, but one can forgive only someone who has done something wrong.  Did he make an unconscious slip?  Was a remnant of the grace of his Catholic baptism rising up through the ashes of his conscious rebellion?  Was he accidentally saying that gays seek forgivenessfrom the Church for what they do?  I’m sure he wouldn’t admit that, though the Church is merciful and would gladly forgive—but the Church is not “tolerant” and so will not call evil good and will not accept the specious arguments of those who try to justify or rationalize their sin.

This is one of the great tragedies of the present age.  Many of those who still believe in God at all insist that God is merciful, yet it is not mercy they seek.  What they seek is a redefinition of sin (or the jettisoning of the concept altogether) in order to suit their own preferences, so as to relieve themselves of all accountability for their actions.  They want a God made in their own image, who is tolerant of their behavior, not a God who reveals eternal and immutable truths, and who expects us (because He gives us the grace) to live accordingly.  Mercy requires repentance, and repentance entails change, so it is that they do not want mercy because they do not want to repent because they do not want to change.

So we ought to be clear that God is not tolerant, but He is merciful.  He does not turn a blind eye to evil, but calls it what it is—yet He forgives it when we repent.  No sin is beyond the reach of God’s infinite mercy, but when one is so “enlightened” as to deny that sin is sin (though this is spiritual blindness), then Jesus’ words apply: “But now that you say ‘we see,’ your guilt remains” (Jn. 9:41).

Let us not be deceived by those who refuse to tolerate our intolerance of evil, those who try to hide sin behind the cloak of “diversity,” those who want to “live and let live,” although “letting live” in many cases means not caring if people go to eternal death in Hell.  But let us, in imitation of Christ, extend the offer of mercy to intransigent sinners, encourage their repentance and their acceptance of the true faith that promises eternal life.  It is a sad commentary on our times when people choose tolerance instead of mercy, for it is only mercy that triumphs over judgment (James 2:13).  As for those who promote sin in the name of tolerance, they need to “know God’s decree that those who do such things deserve to die, [yet] they not only do them but approve those who practice them” (Rom. 1:32).  May God have mercy on them, and lead them to repentance and salvation!

Read Full Post »

*A National Examen

Posted in *Life Issues, by All Sources, by Father Joseph on July 3, 2009 |

You’ve got to read this reflection by Abbot Joseph and for maximum effect, I’m directing you to Word Incarnate.

Read Full Post »

*Abbot Joseph’s Marvelous Reflections

Posted in *Faith / Church, by All Sources, by Father Joseph, by Fredi D'Alessio on June 3, 2009 |

Abbot Joseph: I call this blog “Word Incarnate” not only in honor of my Lord, but as an acknowledgement that words have the ability to “take flesh” in people’s lives, to make a difference, to help lead them, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, to the whole truth. I pray that this will in fact happen, that my words will not be mere dust in the wind, but seeds of the Spirit.

The Lord is with Abbot Joseph Homick and He blesses me through these marvelous reflections. You too will be blessed if you read them.

Click here for an alpabetical listing of links to Abbot Joseph’s reflections posted on his weblog, Word Incarnate. I have listed them in alphabetical order because they are of timeless value. However, you can also access them in order of descending or ascending date posted by clicking here or via the monthly archives at Word Incarnate.

I will update these listings frequently, but not daily. So for reflections posted later than the noted UPDATED date, go directly to Word Incarnate.

I recommend visiting Word Incarnate directly on a regular basis to read the RECENT POSTS. Whenever you happen to be visiting this site, you can access the most recent reflection posted at Word Incarnate via the RSS feed located at the top of the sidebar on all pages.

I also enthusiastically recommend Abbot Joseph’s books

Read Full Post »

*Church and World

Posted in *Faith / Church, by All Sources, by Father Joseph on May 7, 2009 |

by Abbot Joseph

[You can read this at Word Incarnate or continue below.]

I’ve begun reading In the World, of the Church, an anthology of some of the writings of the late Orthodox theologian Paul Evdokimov.  His voice was both prophetic and ecumenical, but most of all profoundly Christian.  I would like to reproduce here some passages from his article “A Message to the Churches,” written over a half-century ago, but quite relevant to the state of the Church in the world today.  When I read this prophetic critique, I can’t help but think of the Gospel passage: “the sons of this world are wiser in their own generation than the sons of light” (Lk. 16:8).  That’s an obscure saying, but the way I see it in light of what follows here is that those promoting the agenda of the world have a sharper vision of their goals, and a clearer grasp of the means necessary to implement them, than the Church has of her own mission.  For in recent decades the Church, in significant ways, has turned to the world for guidance and example, instead of being the Spirit-animated Light to the world.

“We are faced with a brutal historical reality.  For various reasons the Church now appears to be thrown back to the pre-Constantinian era.  The Church is a remnant, a tiny minority in a world quite hostile to her message and without a grasp of history…  [The world] listens to other gospels and to other prophets.  Dynamic forces are at play, seeking to establish a new integration of the world with realities incompatible with the Christian ethic… This is a treacherous and offensive era.  In the throbbing daily scene of life, God cannot find a voice sufficiently pure and detached to be his herald.  All is horribly compromised to the point where roles have become reversed: now the Church is being judged by the world.

“Christians have done just about everything to sterilize the Gospel.  One can say that it has been plunged into a neutralizing solution.  Everything that is striking in it, all that transcends and turns things upside down, has been moderated, sterilized to death.  Religion, having become inoffensive, is now flat, shrewd, and above all, reasonable, and remains simply to be vomited out [the allusion here is to Rev. 3:16].  ‘God does not demand much of us’—such a conviction makes the salt of the Gospel insipid and tasteless, that salt which is God’s terrible jealousy, his insistence on the impossible… Today the Gospel meets total indifference…

“The Church is no longer, as in the first centuries, the triumphal march of Life through the graveyards of the world.  In all the recent theological definitions of her nature, the Church is conceived of in an astonishingly static manner, as essentially a self-serving, self-preserving institution.  She has settled on maintaining the subsistence of her own membership… Christian faith has thus strangely lost its character of ferment, of disrupting everything.  She is no longer the leaven which raises the dough… After two millennia of Christian history, the worst judgment that the world can pass upon the Church is that she has become a faithful reflection of the world itself…

“The average Christian today testifies to a striking phenomenon.  Christianity is not at all a ‘new people,’ but just one typical sociological group among many, and it is here that we come to the heart of Christianity’s failure.  Faith is no longer the source but has become an imposition, something merely added to the structures of the world in which the faithful engage… The Church, mystery on the march, the Bride awaiting her King, has become a ‘religious association,’ dependent upon the laws of natural evolution.  And the consequences are disastrous…

“The Incarnation has been accommodated to this age.  The Temple of God has become a huge ‘insurance company’ for eternal life with minimal risk (for Pascal, ‘the wager’), with techniques of consolation and ‘strategies’ for every imaginable situation.  The Christian faith is preached as the healthiest, happiest, most effective arrangement for human life… The Gospel, however, is not adaptable functionally.  It is explosive.  The Gospel is the demand of metamorphosis, transformation… In the behavior and thinking of the average Christian, however, there is no place for the further, other Reality which transcends, which by its existence announcesthe wholly Other.  Faith here appears as one of the elements of a functional sort, a sociological category, and thus the Christian message is emptied of all its transforming power…

“Having been tossed on the sociological trash heap, is it at all possible for Christianity to become once more the place where the presence of the God-Man shines forth?  Can the face of Christ again ‘radiate in the faces of those who belong to him,’ as an ancient liturgical text puts it?  Here lies the entire matter.  The only message which is powerful any longer is not the one which simply repeats the words of Christ, the Word, but the one which makes him present.  Only his presence will make the message, as the Gospel says, light and salt for the world.

“The Gospel is an explosive seed.  It is revolutionary.  It overturns not the structures of the world but those of the human spirit.  What is important here is the manifestation of God in us, the coming of Christ in humanity… Now is not the time for Christian spirituality to reflect the age.  Rather in every aspect our spiritual life must point to the Other… By one’s interior attitude, each Christian can make everything around him beautiful and light, can turn them into icons, images of their true nature.  Such an authentically spiritual life would accomplish much, much more than many sermons… Christ is so often kept from us by theological and religious mumbo-jumbo.  You don’t worry about adjusting the furnace when the house is on fire, nor do you wallow in secondary, unimportant things while the world is going to pieces.  All of our creativity ought to focus on lifting the generation before us into the immense joy of freedom, the joy of serving others, into the joy (as St John the Baptist) of being the friend of Christ, the Bridegroom…

“The historical task, however, is not the search for the forms of primitive Christianity, but for her cry: Marana tha—‘Come, Lord,’ for union with the Church in the final hour.  This hour makes all the other hours real.  This last hour makes the Christian message real again, for us.”

There are endless examples of how the Church has allowed the ways of the world to diminish her vital energy and to silence her prophetic witness in the world.  There’s one I just read, though, that is symptomatic.  A former Archbishop of San Francisco (Quinn) has just written an article defending President Obama’s speaking and receiving an honorary degree at a (once) prestigious Catholic University.  After his ridiculous statement to the effect that not allowing a pro-abortion president to speak at a Catholic University manifests “racial hatred” simply because he is black (everyone knows that has nothing to do with the abortion issue), he asks: “If the president is forced to withdraw, how will it impact the image of the Church? Will it enhance the mission of the Church? Will it create a more positive attitude toward the Catholic Church?”  The whole point of his article is that it will negatively affect the image and mission of the Church.  Why does he think that the Church (or any organization, for that matter) will be negatively affected when it simply stands up for what it believes in?  His approach (and hence his understanding of the Church) completely contradicts the prophetic force and mission of true Christianity and exemplifies the eviscerated sociological entity that Evdokimov criticizes above.

The former bishop shows his true colors toward the end of the article.  This is the bottom line; this is what many American bishops are all too often worried about: “the consequences if the American bishops are seen as the agents of the public embarrassment of the newly elected president by forcing him to withdraw from an appearance at a distinguished Catholic university.”  It doesn’t matter that Obama is a promoter of evil and will be publicly honored by a Catholic institution.  The bishops don’t want to be agents of public embarrassment for proclaiming the Gospel to secular powers as a witness to the nation.  They want to be good citizens (i.e., they want to look good in the eyes of the media).  They don’t want to be embarrassed by making it known that they are uncompromised followers of Christ.  Crucify Him, then, and give them Barabbas.

More from Abbot Joseph here and here.

Read Full Post »

*Father Joseph’s Marvelous Reflections

Posted in *Faith / Church, *Life Issues, by All Sources, by Father Joseph on March 14, 2009 |

Listed below are links to Father Joseph Homick‘s marvelous reflections posted on his weblog, Making All Things New (formally Word Incarnate).

They are listed in order of descending date posted (read from the bottom up for ascending date order), however you can also access them in alphabetical order by clicking here.They are also accessible by date posted via the monthly archives at Making All Things New.

I will update this list frequently, but not daily. So for reflections posted later than the UPDATED date below, go directly to Making All Things New.

I recommend visitingMaking All Things New directly on a regular basis to read the RECENT POSTS. Whenever you happen to be visiting this site, you can access the most recent reflection posted at Word Incarnate via the RSS feed located at the top of the sidebar on allpages.

The Lord is with Father Joseph and He blesses me through these marvelous reflections. You too will be blessed if you read them.

I also enthusiastically recommend Father Joseph’s books.

For a listing in alphabetical order, click here.

UPDATED on 5/05/2013

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »