Homily: Funeral Mass for Patricia Curtin

Readings: Eccl 3:1-11; Ps 23; Rom 14:7-9; Jn 10: 14-15,27-30

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Claude, Diane and I, indeed, all of us here – we know how much you love your dear Patricia, and so, to you and to Sally, to Patricia’s nephews, Rich and Steve, and to all of your longtime friends, our deepest condolences. And I’m joined in this by Fr. Peter, Fr. John, Fr. Gerry, all your brother deacons and their wives – in truth, by the entire St. Vincent de Paul parish family.

Patricia was one of those rare people about whom we can say, “If you knew her, you loved her.” Our love for her just grew over the years, and it’s been almost 20 years since you and Patricia showed up that Sunday and asked, “Hey, need another deacon here?” How glad I am, how blessed we are, that the pastor and the parish said, “Yes, come join us!” Thus began our long friendship with this couple we’ve come to love.

Believe us, Claude, Patricia’s absence has left a hole in our hearts as well. I can only imagine how much you miss her, but if you let Him, God will fill this emptiness; He’ll fill it with His grace, bringing with it His peace and His enduring love.

Know, too, that we grieve with you. And yet, because of our faith, and because of your faith, we can look beyond our grief today. Despite our sorrow, we can be joyful that Patricia is now in God’s care, and to be cared for by our loving, merciful God…well, that’s a wondrous, powerful thing. I suppose St. Paul said it best, as he usually does:

“Both in life and death we are the Lord’s” [Rom 14:8].

Yes, we are His. And our Gospel passage from John sums it up beautifully, doesn’t it?

“I am the good shepherd…the sheep that belong to me listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” [Jn 10:14,27].

We belong to Him, and so He keeps calling us throughout our brief lives, but then embraces us as we enter eternity.

“I give them eternal life. They will never be lost” [Jn 10:28].

…and what a promise this is, a promise sealed and delivered with God’s love.

I suppose too many of us fall into that straying sheep category – you know, the ones He has to retrieve and bring back to the fold. But not Patricia. She followed the Shepherd, staying close, listening to His voice, and rejoicing in God’s love, a love she was determined to share with others.

Indeed, her kindness was eminently evident. Gracious and graceful, loving, creative, simply a good woman, and so much more. More importantly, Patricia Curtin loved God and neighbor, and in that loving she opened her heart to the movement, the workings, of the Holy Spirit. You see, she was a joy-giver. That’s right, she brought joy to those she encountered, just by being who she was. Diane and I were always happy in her presence.

And Patricia, as your wife, the wife of a permanent deacon, she shared in so many of those ministries. She joined you in hospital ministry visiting the sick. She played an active role in parish outreach at Our Mother’s Attic. And perhaps most importantly, she kept you on the straight and narrow, pretty much a fulltime job.

But Patricia had a professional life of her own. She earned graduate degrees in both French and Italian, and taught for 30 years in a community college in New York’s SUNY system – was a full professor and department chair. Now I know all this from personal experience. You see, the four of us would often dine at Taki’s, a nearby Greek-Italian restaurant. And Patricia would occasionally, but always with kindness, correct my Italian when I ordered off the menu. With this, Patricia became a model for all of us, proving that our working skills remain useful, even in retirement.

Thinking back over all these years of friendship, it’s all packed together: those dinners at Takis and so many other places – and there were many -- the holiday feasts at your home or ours. The good times shared with the Wilsons. The day trips to galleries, and museums, and your kindness when subjected to the intrusive lens of my cameras. Oh, yes, and the bottles of – how can I put this? – cheap wines, sampled here in Florida, and of slightly better vintages at those Finger Lakes wineries.

Yes, we visited Claude and Patricia at their lovely home on Seneca Lake. We didn’t want to leave, but eventually we took the hint. And it was on that trip I discovered they met in Paris in 1965. Coincidentally, thanks to the US Navy, I happened to visit Pairs that same summer, but inexplicably we didn’t run into each other.

Of course, your meeting in that city of light began it all and calls to mind everything that followed. And Claude, to recall that lifelong journey you wisely chose to do so through God’s Word in the Book of Ecclesiastes. Such a good choice. But such an atypical book of Scripture, more philosophical than theological, a book in which the balance of our lives is repeatedly stressed.

Ecclesiastes is really a book of thanksgiving, read in the autumn during the Feast of Tabernacles, or Sukkot. In it we thank God for His gifts, especially the gift of time, of all those times, in which we live our lives.

Times for laughter, and times for tears, times of healthy days and days of suffering.

Times for planting and starting, and times for reaping and ending.

Silent times for prayer and contemplation, and times for talking and sharing and embracing.

Happy times and sad times.

And yes, a time to be born and a time to die.

Sadly, for those who have not accepted the gift of faith, in this they see only an end. T. S. Eliot, among my favorite poets, once wrote, “In my end is my beginning.” And he was right: death isn’t an end; rather it’s a beginning, the beginning of our real life, an eternal life bathed in God’s love. Patricia knew this. She believed it with all her being. And because of her faith she’s now in the embrace of our loving, merciful God.

Realize, too, this funeral Mass is primarily an act of worship, but worship in the form of thanksgiving. We turn to our God and thank Him for the gift of Patricia Curtin’s unrepeatable life, a life we were blessed not only to witness, but also to share. But even more important, here today we gather in prayer, and Word, and Eucharist, thanking our God for the gift of His Son, Who gave His life for us, and renews that sacrifice right here on this altar.

Without this gift, we would have no hope: no hope of forgiveness, no hope of mercy, no hope of salvation, no hope of eternal life. It’s because of this gift that we can gather here today and not be consumed by grief. Because of this gift we don’t despair. Because of this gift we can go on. We can continue with our own lives knowing that Patricia, and you, and I – that we’ve all been redeemed by our Lord, Jesus Christ.

So many gifts from our God, a lifetime of gifts, relived by us through God’s gift of memory. And so, today, filled with hope, we hold close the memories of the past. It’s right to do so, to keep Patricia’s memory alive. We’ll continue to tell the stories, the stories that bring laughter and those that bring tears.

But today let us just claim and proclaim all that was good and noble and loving and faithful in Patricia’s life. And with that we’ll come to realize, the greatest thing she left behind is you, Claude, and really all of us whom she loved and who loved her! In a sense, we’re her legacy, her gift to the world, her gift to God. I can think of nothing better.

Today, then, we ask our Lord Jesus to take Patricia Curtin, his “good and faithful servant,” into His loving embrace, to take away the pain, to wipe away the tears, and give her the first taste of that eternal joy we all hope to share.

God love you all.

How Smart Were the Ancients?

Every so often, someone, while discussing ancient history, will tell me how fortunate we are to be alive today as opposed to say, 2,000 years ago. I actually hear this fairly frequently. The reasons behind this preference for the now, as opposed to the past, vary. I can certainly understand why the average American might feel this way. After all, at no time in recorded history has a people enjoyed greater freedom and prosperity than those who have lived in the United States during the past century. Of course, as the bumper-sticker says, "Freedom is not free." To stay free a people must resist the forces that strive to grasp power and enslave them. The history of humanity is largely a history of darkness enlightened only occasionally by brief moments of true, responsible freedom. 

Others take a more progressive view, assuming human existence always moves forward to something better. One friend, a scientist, actually claimed we are far more intelligent today than those who went before us. "Like everything else," he explained, "IQs have no doubt increased as we continue our upward evolution." He wasn't happy when I challenged him by reciting a few basic historical facts. For example, the number of people slaughtered in wars since 1914 exceeds the total killed in warfare through all previous recorded history. Does he believe, then, killing people by the millions is a valid indicator of a higher IQ and continual upward evolution? I had other questions. He disliked them all.

Another acquaintance, like me educated as an engineer, took a humbler approach and admitted that knowledge is a continual building process in which we add our own advances and insights to those passed on to us. In this he mirrors the comment of Bernard of Chartres, who in the early 12th century claimed:

"...we [the Moderns] are like dwarves perched on the shoulders of giants [the Ancients], and thus we are able to see more and farther than the latter. And this is not at all because of the acuteness of our sight or the stature of our body, but because we are carried aloft and elevated by the magnitude of the giants."

I suppose, for an engineer, such an attitude makes sense. Progress in engineering, which is really the application of science and technology to current needs and problems, builds on that which has been learned and tested over the centuries. This can, however, result in a kind of temporal bias, in which that which came before is generally considered inferior. 

Indeed, we can argue that in many fields -- the arts, for example -- exactly the opposite is true. I would gladly argue that any fugue and prelude by Bach, a Bethoven symphony, or a concerto by Mozart or Vivaldi, by any reasonable measure far surpasses most of the music to which we are subjected today. Some of today’s music is quite good, but very little of it is great. I believe this applies, too, to many of the visual arts. And interestingly, it seems also to apply, at least in some instances, to engineering. The Pantheon in Rome is a perfect example. Here’s an aerial view of the Pantheon, thanks to Google Earth:

On our first trip to Rome, Diane and I visited the Pantheon, designed as a Roman temple dedicated to all the gods. It was built, in its final form, sometime in the early 2nd century by the Roman emperor Hadrian. By any standard it is a remarkable structure. The Pantheon is a circular building fronted by an impressive rectangular portico supported by huge columns. I took the below photo back in November 2005. Approaching the building from the Piazza della Rotonda we are almost overwhelmed by the large portico and its massive columns.

The interior, the rotunda, sits under a unique concrete dome with a central opening or oculus that lets in sunlight. The dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome, the only dome of its kind that does not need reinforcement. In the photo below we see the oculus along with part of the surrounding dome:

How big is the Pantheon? The dome's height and diameter are identical (142 ft). At its base the dome is 21 feet thick, while at the top, at the oculus, it is only about 4 feet thick. The content of the materials used to make the dome also vary with height. Concrete was a material which the Romans understood well, and as they built the Pantheon, they applied different aggregates to the concrete mix, from travertine limestone at its thick base to terracotta tiles and ultimately at the top very porous light stones like pumice. The oculus also lightens the loads on the structure where it would be weakest. And the inclusion in the dome of multiple bands of sunken panels (or coffers) further reduces the weight. These bands are visible above and also in the following photo of the Oculus.

I’m not a civil engineer but I did make my way through a course on strength of materials in which our professor waxed eloquently about the Romans’ use of concrete in building the Pantheon, the Colosseum, and many other structures. I recall his telling us that modern concrete has a limited life and usually begins to deteriorate after some decades. I think of all the bridges and interstate overpasses that have had problems in recent years and the billions we have spent to repair them and other elements of our national infrastructure. Our professor, again referring to the Pantheon, went on to say that he and his peers could not understand how ancient Roman concrete seemed to last forever. Discussing this he added that perhaps someday we would figure out the secret and catch up with Roman technology.

Well, apparently this has finally been accomplished. It seems that scientists, archaeologists, and historians have been working independently and occasionally together for many years trying to uncover the secrets of Roman concrete technology. This technology and the techniques that derived from it have resulted in some of the most enduring structures ever made. In a study published in Science Advances researchers from MIT and Harvard, assisted by others from research laboratories in Germany and Switzerland, explained what they believe made Roman concrete so durable and of such high quality. (Note: the article is quite technical, but readily understandable by all serious techno-dweebs.)

As a result of extensive examination of Roman concrete, the researchers discovered that the Roman manufacturing techniques included “key self-healing functionalities.” In other words, the concrete would continually heal itself so it wouldn’t deteriorate over time. It seems small, bright white chunks of lime — what are called “lime clasts” — are abundant in Roman concrete. These chunks of hardened lime were always thought to be mere contaminants, the result of sloppy mixing by the Romans. Everyone was certain they were certainly not essential elements of the mix. Well, not everyone. Adam Masic, MIT professor of civil and environmental engineering, had long been skeptical and decided to find out the truth. In his words:

“Ever since I first began working with ancient Roman concrete, I’ve always been fascinated by these features...The idea that the presence of these lime clasts was simply attributed to low quality control always bothered me. If the Romans put so much effort into making an outstanding construction material, following all of the detailed recipes that had been optimized over the course of many centuries, why would they put so little effort into ensuring the production of a well-mixed final product? There had to be more to this story.”

He was right. Using high-resolution imaging and chemical mapping technology they examined the lime clasts at a molecular level and discovered the clasts had been subjected to high heat, producing what’s known as quicklime. Quicklime, then, was an intentional ingredient and not a contaminant. As Professor Masic explained it:

“The benefits of hot mixing are twofold. First, when the overall concrete is heated to high temperatures, it allows chemistries that are not possible if you only used slaked [cold mixed] lime, producing high-temperature-associated compounds that would not otherwise form. Second, this increased temperature significantly reduces curing and setting times since all the reactions are accelerated, allowing for much faster construction.” 

The lime clasts resulting from this hot mixing process are brittle, so brittle that when the concrete starts to crack over time, the force is shifted to the lime clasts, which also begin to crack. Here’s where it gets truly amazing. These crumbling, cracking lime clasts then react with water penetrating the concrete through the cracks. This results in a calcium-saturated solution that hardens and fills all the cracks in the concrete. It then reacts with the pozzolanic materials and adds extra strength to the concrete blocks. The lime clasts, then, long thought to be contaminants, automatically heal Roman concrete whenever the forces of nature threaten to break it apart. 

And so, the Pantheon, constructed almost entirely of concrete still stands strong after 2,000 years. And it only took that long for us moderns to learn the secrets of Roman construction technology. Pretty smart people, them ancients. Oh, yes, and the ancients are also the folks who, guided by the Spirit, wrote the Bible.

An afterthought: I’ve added a couple of other Pantheon photos below, just to give you a sense of the interior of this wonderful building which is now a Catholic Church. The first shows the interior empty of tourists because a special Mass was about to begin, a Mass we attended.

And here’s a photo of the Pantheon’s entrance. The doors are original, and I believe they’re the world’s largest bronze doors.

Finally, a photo I took in 2008 showing a typical crowd of tourists roaming about the Pantheon rotunda.

If you ever get to Rome, spend at least a few hours in the Pantheon, then enjoy a meal at one of the restaurants around the Piazza della Rotonda. It’s a wonderful way to spend a morning or afternoon.

Disconnected Thoughts

First, I’ve neglected the blog for a week or so because our elder daughter and her five children have been visiting. One, the eldest of the five, had to leave us to return to his job in Charleston, but the others remain to delight our lives. After they flew in from Boston, we spent several days in Orlando and then headed for our home in The Villages. Unfortunately, one of the family also brought us a gift: a bug that left the rest of us, including Diane and me, with rather nasty head colds. It’s left Diane and me very tired, with runny noses and mildly sore throats, but thanks to meds from Walgreens we’re on the mend…slowly. We hope to be all healed and soon up to our usual slow speed.

Second, I’ve also neglected my dear Bible Study regulars, now numbering almost 100 parishioners, and it’s been nearly a month (perhaps longer) since I’ve written one of my study guides. Diane and I went off on a few little trips during April and May, followed by the arrival of daughter and grandchildren, so I suppose I have an excuse. I hope to get busy on a new one next week. In the meantime, you can always reread one of the existing study guides posted on our Bible Study Website.

Anyway, as I recover from this pesky common cold, I’ve been thinking about lots of odd things, mostly about our world and how its rational inhabitants largely ignore the God who created them. At the risk of boring you all, especially those few stalwarts who occasionally read a post or two, I decided to share some of these thoughts.

A few years ago I read The Christians as the Romans Saw Them,  a wonderful little book by Robert Louis Wilkin, Professor of the History of Christianity at the University of Virginia. Surprisingly, although the Romans had quite a lot to say about Christians, they had very little to say about Jesus. Most of the Romans who mentioned Christians despised them and their teachings. And because Christians refused to worship the Roman gods, but instead worshiped a man who was crucified as a criminal, they were thought to be atheists. Reading what the Romans had to say, one would think Christianity just sprang up out of nowhere and it’s founder, a nobody from a minor province, wasn’t worth mentioning. Of course, from the world’s perspective, that’s exactly who Jesus is: a nobody. I suppose most educated Romans considered Jesus Himself simply unworthy of much mention. This really shouldn’t surprise us, since Jesus is the very font of the humility He preached to His disciples. How did St. Paul put it?

Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross [Phil 2:6-8].

The Son of Man lived in the world, and lived in the deepest humility. The world, in which Satan thrives, cannot comprehend humility and will always try to ignore Jesus or, failing that, attack and belittle Him. We see this today among the self-proclaimed elite and especially among the politicians who endlessly proclaim their Christianity while openly ignoring Jesus and the Magisterial teachings of His Church. We who claim to be Christians ignore Jesus at our peril. As St. Paul continued in his hymn-like teaching to the Philippians, Jesus, the Son of Man, is far more than a humble, itinerant preacher, for He is also Son of God:

Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father [Phil 2:9-11].

Yes, indeed, “Jesus Christ is Lord,” but many tongues do not yet confess this truth. As Paul reminds us, “…at the name of Jesus every knee should bend.” Every knee should, but so few do. 

Not long ago, a parishioner and Bible Study regular told me she was sure Jesus would convert the world before He returned. I told her I hoped she was right but didn’t believe that would happen. I referred her to something Jesus asked, a series of questions that has always caused me to question the depth of my own faith:

Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them? I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? [Lk 18:7-8]

It’s that final question that gives me pause, and leads me to what Jesus had to say about those final days:

Many false prophets will arise and deceive many, and because of the increase of evildoing, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who perseveres to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the world as a witness to  all nations, and then the end will come [Mt 24:11-14].

I suppose we haven’t yet preached the gospel to everyone throughout the world, but we’re getting close. There’s certainly been an “increase in evildoing” while the love of many, sadly even many Christians, has grown very, very cold. 

Will the entire world experience a mass conversion in a big kumbaya hug with the returning Jesus? Jesus doesn’t tell us that. He tells us to “persevere…and then the end will come.”

Because I have no idea when that end will come, I refuse to be consumed by worry or fear. But in the meantime you and I should certainly pray for our nation and our world, and pray for the conversion of all. But we must also realize that the end days will be preceded by some very difficult times that call for our perseverance.

May Day

Today, the first day of May, has a long, ancient history as a day to celebrate the arrival of Spring with festivals, maypoles, dancing and other fun activities. The May celebrations of the ancient Greeks focused on the goddess Artemis since she was the goddess of the hunt, the wild, childbirth, and other activities related to newness. I remember, back when I studied Latin in high school, having read that the Romans dedicated May to the goddess Flora, to whom they attributed new growth. They also celebrated with plays and Dionysian rituals that our Latin teacher wouldn’t describe. Knowing how the Romans liked to party, I’m pretty sure they probably overdid it. And I suppose many of these ancient traditions just continued in modified form, even as Europe became increasingly Christian.

But why do so many celebrate Spring in May when the season really begins, at least astronomically, in late March at the vernal equinox? I think the answer is obvious. Late March and all of April are simply not trustworthily spring-like. Winter just doesn’t like to leave when it’s supposed to, and if you’ve lived up north, you’ll have experienced many April snowstorms. May is really the first Spring month we can trust. And we don’t have to go back too many years to encounter winters without electricity and central heating. Winters in those pre-modern centuries were a lot colder, darker, and bleaker, so the promise of warm weather was the promise of real change, something to be celebrated. Back when I was a midshipman at the Naval Academy, we called those bleak days from January until the first touch of Spring the “dark ages,” and to us they seemed very dark indeed, especially for Plebes who were effectively held captive until Spring leave, which is Naval Academy speak for Spring break. 

Of course, as Catholics we celebrate our Blessed Mother during the month of May. This, too, has roots that extend back at least to late medieval times but really became more widespread during the past 300 years. Many parishes celebrate with a May Crowning in which a statue of Mary is crowned with a floral wreath and carried in procession. The month-long celebration also includes daily family recitation of the Rosary, and other Marian devotions. May is a special month to celebrate our Blessed Mother, the Mother of God, the Mother of the Church, and our Mother. Given what’s happening in the world today, we need her intercession more than ever. 

 

Celebrating Stalin - Moscow May Day (2017)

 

In recent years, however, the first day of May has taken on other meaning. Just this morning I heard a newscaster say that “Today is May Day, when we honor workers.” Honoring workers is certainly a good thing, but I suspect this newsman is unaware of the origins of this version of May Day. May 1st was named “International Workers’ Day” by the Communists and socialists of the Second International in Paris in 1889. They called it “May Day” as a way to co-opt the traditional May Day. The Catholic Church, specifically Pope Pius XII, recognizing the problem that could arise by associating honest work with atheistic Communism, in 1955 made today a special feast day to honor St. Joseph the Worker as the patron saint of workers. He is certainly a fitting patron since he supported Mary and Jesus as a carpenter, and taught those same skills to Our Lord.

So go ahead and celebrate workers today, but do so by honoring St. Joseph and devote the rest of the month of May to honoring our Blessed Mother. Pray the Rosary daily this month, asking Mary to intercede for our broken world.

St. Paul on His World and Our World

A lot of people today have been writing a lot of words telling us what’s wrong with our world. Some of them have got it right, some only half-right, and others are completely wrong. Of course, assigning a writer to one of these three categories is based entirely on how closely his thought and beliefs mesh with my own...OK, and with the teachings of the Church. But I read them all, whether or not I agree with them. 

This evening, as I was mulling over some of the things I had read recently, I suddenly remembered St. Paul and his remarkable letter to the Romans. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read Romans, but I turn to it frequently because it’s so rich in spiritual truths. But it’s also rich in truths about our world and it’s problems. When you read Romans you discover that human nature hasn’t really changed in 2,000 years. The problems of today’s world, although they are packaged differently, are also remarkable similar to those faced by St. Paul and his contemporaries.  

I suggest you read the the following passage from the first chapter of Romans. With these words Paul describes with remarkable clarity the world of the Roman Empire in the first century, while prophetically describing the world we face today, along with its many evils. Perhaps I’ll delve into these verses at some point, but I’m pretty sure you will see the connections between Paul’s words and our world.

The wrath of God is indeed being revealed from heaven against every impiety and wickedness of those who suppress the truth by their wickedness. For what can be known about God is evident to them, because God made it evident to them. Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made. As a result, they have no excuse; for although they knew God they did not accord him glory as God or give him thanks. Instead, they became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened. While claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for likenesses of an image of mortal man or of birds or of four-legged animals or of snakes. Therefore, God handed them over to impurity through the lusts of their hearts for the mutual degradation of their bodies. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and revered and worshiped the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever! Amen.

Therefore, God handed them over to degrading passions. Their females exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the males likewise gave up natural relations with females and burned with lust for one another. Males did shameful things with males and thus received in their own persons the due penalty for their perversity. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God handed them over to their undiscerning mind to do what is improper. They are filled with every form of wickedness, evil, greed, and malice; full of envy, murder, rivalry, treachery, and spite. They are gossips and scandalmongers and they hate God. They are insolent, haughty, boastful, ingenious in their wickedness, and rebellious toward their parents. They are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know the just decree of God that all who practice such things deserve death, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them [Rom 1:18-32].

That's quite a collection of evils, isn't it? These, and many others, are the sins that nailed our Lord Jesus to the Cross on that first Good Friday -- sins of the past, the present, and the future.

Many people today, sadly, even many Christians, don't like to hear St. Paul's words because they have succumbed to the spirit of the age, which, by the way, is a spirit of evil. Others recognize the truth in what St. Paul tells us, but to openly proclaim and live a life that contradicts the world's evils demands more courage than they can muster up. So they keep quiet and ignore it all. Paul, however. is not calling us to fight evil with another evil. He's telling us to despise the sin, all the while loving and encouraging and praying for the sinner. Believe me, it isn't easy, but we don't do it alone.

 

Dealing with Hatred

I can't recall ever encountering so much hatred in our nation as seemingly exists today. Certain groups, apparently founded on and continuing to espouse Marxist principles, simply cannot abide the presence of any contrary beliefs. For example, Black Lives Matter "protesters" who openly support the looting and burning of businesses in American neighborhoods are now invading restaurants, creating physical havoc by upending tables and chairs, all the while demanding that the diners support them. 

This video was taken in Rochester, NY and shows the tormented tots of BLM storming a local restaurant. Don't they sound like little 5-year-olds in the midst of a tantrum because mommy and daddy didn't give them the toy they wanted?

Here's another, in Washington, D.C., a bit more placid but still remarkably stupid. Watch this collection of spoiled white kids who never learned a thing from their equally ignorant professors. Their poor parents paid tens of thousands to colleges and universities that failed to educate their children. How sad for them all...except the schools. As a result all the little ones are able to do is parrot the inane words screamed into a megaphone by their verbally challenged  "leader." Again, how sad. Not an original thought in the group.

These, of course, are among the more "peaceful" of the BLM and Antifa demonstrations now plaguing our nation. Believe me when I warn you that your city or town, your neighborhood, could well be next. These yahoos have no intention of limiting their violent activity to the big cities. Right now, those cities, run by equally stupid far-left mayors and city councils, are the neo-barbarians' best hunting grounds because they know the police won't challenge them. But because they're not very bright, they'll begin to think themselves invincible. That will be their mistake. The folks who live in America's heartland won't tolerate what you saw above in unarmed cities like Washington, DC and Rochester, NY. If the barbarians get really stupid they will suffer stupidity's unintended consequences. One can only hope things do not go that far.

But how should we Christians respond to all this? If we turn to Sacred Scripture and Church teaching, we can find some good answers. 

Some Christians maintain that we must tolerate those who want to do us harm, that any resort to violence is no better than the violence that threatens us. The Church, however, has never taught this and has, indeed, always supported the human person's right to self-defense. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says quite a bit about this right, which for many becomes even a duty. I've extracted only a few paragraphs

2263 The legitimate defense of persons and societies is not an exception to the prohibition against the murder of the innocent that constitutes intentional killing. "The act of self-defense can have a double effect: the preservation of one's own life; and the killing of the aggressor...The one is intended, the other is not."

2264 Love toward oneself remains a fundamental principle of morality. Therefore it is legitimate to insist on respect for one's own right to life. Someone who defends his life is not guilty of murder even if he is forced to deal his aggressor a lethal blow...

2265 Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for one who is responsible for the lives of others. The defense of the common good requires that an unjust aggressor be rendered unable to cause harm. For this reason, those who legitimately hold authority also have the right to use arms to repel aggressors against the civil community entrusted to their responsibility.

2266 The efforts of the state to curb the spread of behavior harmful to people's rights and to the basic rules of civil society correspond to the requirement of safeguarding the common good. Legitimate public authority has the right and the duty to inflict punishment proportionate to the gravity of the offense. When it is willingly accepted by the guilty party, it assumes the value of expiation. Punishment then, in addition to defending public order and protecting people's safety, has a medicinal purpose: as far as possible, it must contribute to the correction of the guilty party.

Church teaching, then, is clear: we have a right to defend ourselves against those intent on harming us. We can also use less than lethal defensive measures to prevent those prohibiting us from exercising our God-given human rights.

Some, however, seem to believe that evil does not exist, or that people cannot be overcome by evil -- that such people are simply misunderstood. They are decidedly wrong, as the history of humanity shows us. Overcome by the presence of evil, men and women soon forget God, who is the personification of goodness and love. They become habituated to the presence of sin in their lives and disorder fills them -- disorder of body, mind, and spirit. We see this in those who have ravaged our cities. They cannot accept the freedom of others. They cannot tolerate that others find happiness and joy in God's creation, in His gifts, and desire to live only in peace. These others they accuse of causing their own self-generated failures. 

What are we to do? Well, in addition to defending ourselves, we must confront evil with the truth. Interestingly, the readings for today's Mass (23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A) address this beautifully. 

The psalmist reminds God's people that many will ignore God, and in doing so, will turn to evil. Even their fathers had fallen prey to this failing:

"...your fathers tempted me; they tested me though they had seen my works" [Ps 95:9]. 

Yes, even living in the midst of God's creation, surrounded by His wondrous works, we can forget His presence:

"You are the God who does wonders; among the peoples you have revealed your might...and no one saw your footprints" [Ps 77:15,20].

Evil exists, and driven by ignorance and self-worship it must be confronted by the truth. In today's first reading the prophet Ezekiel reminds us that by warning those who do evil, we are doing God's work:

"But if you warn the wicked, trying to turn him from his way, and he refuses to turn from his way, he shall die for his guilt, but you shall save yourself" [Ez 33:9]. 

In today's second reading, St. Paul reminds the Romans and us that our attitude toward others -- even those who do evil to us -- must be grounded in love:

"Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law" [Rom 13:10]

And then, in today's Gospel passage from Matthew, Jesus doesn't pull any punches. Our attitude and approach to those who stray, who generate disunity in the Body of Christ, must be one of love. But the one attitude we must always avoid is that of indifference. God desires reconciliation and peace among His people, and to allow disunity is to reject the will of God. We must, therefore, take positive steps to restore the unity God desires. 

"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector" [Mt 18:15-17].

Here we encounter a deeper understanding of the teaching found in Old Testament, a teaching that immediately precedes God's command to "love your neighbor as yourself."

"You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason with your neighbor, lest you bear sin because of him" [Lv 19:17].

Like Leviticus, Jesus places the responsibility to act on the offended party. So often today, when we are offended or treated badly -- when someone "sins against" us -- we ignore those first three steps and immediately jump to the last. We just toss the other person out of our lives. But Jesus instructs us to make every effort to "win over" our brother. Indifference, then, is not permissible. 

Jesus, of course, took this same approach in His dealings with those who obstinately refused to follow God's revealed Word. He never allowed the Pharisees to get away with their willful and self-centered attitudes and behaviors. And yet, at the same time, Jesus' rebukes and questions were always consistent with His long-suffering desire to bring about the conversion and redemption of all. 

Jesus, then, remains the Good Shepherd who goes in search of the lost sheep to bring him back into the fold. His teaching here is one of those highly practical teachings to help His Church deal with the reality of the world in which it must thrive. 

St. Paul, who focused so much on needs of the early Church, never tired in reminding us that love must always be joined to truth. Aware of our own weaknesses, we must still:

"...preach the Word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching" [2 Tim 4:2].

Yes, indeed, love married to truth. That is our challenge, but always remembering:

"What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?...No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through Him who loved us" [Rom 8:35,37].

(A friend just reminded me that I had written about fraternal correction some years ago and should provide a link to it. For what it’s worth, here it is: Fraternal Correction)

COVID-19 Bible Study Reflection #15: A Relationship of Love

In today’s reflection I hope to focus on several different but interrelated aspects of our relationship with God:

·  God’s limitless love for us, best expressed by the Incarnation

·  Our love for God, expressed by our obedience to His commandments

·  The manifestation of this loving relationship in how we love each other

——————————-

And so, let’s look first at God’s love for you, His love for me…

“…everyone who acknowledges me before others the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God” [Lk 12:8].

Are you moved and filled with hope when you hear these wonderful words of Jesus? Could we hope for much more than to be acknowledged before the angels? What Good News this is – God’s promise of salvation and His call to evangelization.

And yet, sadly, I encounter so many people who, because of their sins, almost despair of achieving salvation. Among their mistakes, of course, is the idea that they, or indeed anyone, can achieve salvation. We can’t…not on our own. Salvation, like every other good thing, is a gift from God.

A few years ago, in his homily during Mass at St. Martha’s House, the Vatican guesthouse where he lives, Pope Francis said:

“One of the hardest things for all of us Christians to understand, is the gratuity of Jesus Christ’s salvation.”

In other words, because God’s love is so far beyond any human love we could ever experience, we find it hard to understand it, much less accept it. How can God love me in my sinfulness? I always seem to be falling instead of rising, always disappointing myself, always disappointing God.

Yes, we are called to obedience, to do as God has commanded us as a response to His gratuitous love. And yet because we are sinful, imperfect creatures, we often fail to live out our faith. We find ourselves, then, in the midst of a battle, but an internal, self-made, and unproductive battle.

The pope continued by suggesting how much better it would be if we would only focus on God’s great commandment:

“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” [Lk 10:27].

This is the commandment that saves. This is the love that truly reflects God’s gratuitous love for us. How did St. Peter put it?

“Above all, let your love for one another be intense, because love covers a multitude of sins” [1 Pt 4:8].

Do you and I believe the Lord saves us freely, that we have done nothing to merit salvation? I hope so, because it’s the truth, the Good News we’re called to take to others. This is the remarkable love, God’s love, we’re called to share with the world. And it’s through this sharing of God’s love that we can acknowledge Jesus Christ before others. Never forget what St. Paul wrote to Timothy:

“God our savior… wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth” [1 Tim 2:3-4].

Don’t place limits on God’s limitless love, but put aside your judgment of others, and instead do God’s work in the world by helping others “come to knowledge of the truth” which is Jesus Christ...

For He, and only He, is “the Way and the Truth and the Life” [Jn 14:6].

——————————-

Okay, we know that God loves us. But what does He expect of us?

Let’s turn first to the Letter to the Romans, the longest of St. Paul’s letters. In many respects it’s also the most important of his letters in that it touches on all the major themes of the Gospel. It’s really a treatise on the Good News of Jesus Christ.

"Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God...to all the beloved of God in Rome...called to belong to Jesus Christ...called to be holy [Rom 1:1,6,7].

Romans begins with Paul describing himself as “a slave of Christ Jesus” [Rom 1:1]. Some folks find this a bit odd. After all, as baptized Christians, are we not adopted children of the Father? Doesn’t the Church teach that we’re sisters and brothers of Christ? And doesn’t Jesus call His disciples His friends?

Which, then, are we? Brother, sister, friend, or slave? Well, the only correct answer is “all of the above.”

Here is another wonderful paradox of our Christian faith. Yes, Paul is right: in a sense, we are slaves – servants called to do the will of God. But because we are also God’s children, and because Jesus calls us to be His friends, God doesn’t demand slavish obedience, an obedience of submission. He instead allows us to choose. We obey our God out of freedom, a freedom arising from our close relationship with Jesus. In a sense we are slaves living in freedom. I told you it was a paradox.

As Jesus’ friends, as His brothers and sisters, we want to do as He asks. We respond obediently just as a slave would, but we do so because we recognize God’s great love for us. In faith we know we are loved by the Father who brought us into being. We are loved by the Son who gave His life for our redemption. We are loved by the Spirit who guides us, inspires us, and leads us on our journey of faith. And in faith we return that love by trusting that God will call us to do only that which is good. In faith we accept that God knows best what’s good for us.

When I was a little guy, my parents bought me my first bicycle as a birthday gift. I could hardly wait to ride it, and so I got up early that next morning, climbed on that little bike and tried to ride it. A valiant attempt, but I immediately fell over onto the driveway and skinned a knee and elbow. I was horrified and embarrassed. I had failed to ride this wonderful thing for which I had waited so long.

My dad, who had witnessed this from the kitchen window, came outside and said: “Look, if you want to learn to ride your new bike, you’ll have to let me teach you. Will you do that?”

I had to think about it. I hated to admit I couldn’t do it on my own, but I really wanted to ride that bike. I wanted the freedom it offered, the ability to go wherever I wanted in our little town. And so, I buried my pride and turned myself over to my dad’s instruction.

An hour later I was pedaling up and down our street, about as happy as a six-year-old could possibly be. My father, too, was smiling, happy I had placed my trust in him and learned an important lesson.

That day I learned I couldn’t do everything myself, that first I had to learn and grow, to accept help. Paul teaches the Romans much the same thing by focusing on God’s call to each of us. 

In Paul’s words, he was “called to be an Apostle” [Rom 1:1] and was writing to those “called to belong to Jesus Christ” [Rom 1:6], to those “called to be holy” [Rom 1:7].

That’s our calling: “to belong to Jesus Christ” and “to be holy.” And Paul’s Letter to the Romans goes on to explain this call.

Jesus, then, calls us to follow Him, to deny ourselves, to take up our own cross, for only by doing so can we be His disciples. But that’s just the beginning, for we’re also called to “make disciples of all nations” [Mt 28:19].

Sounds like a tall order, doesn’t it? And so, how do we do it? 

Not by relying on our human strengths, not by thinking we can do it all ourselves, not by trying to fix things, or solve problems, or convince others to be just like you or just like me. Too often we try to force others, to argue them into discipleship. Believe me, it doesn’t work. I know because I’ve tried.

You see, making disciples is God’s work. Let God work through you, especially through your weaknesses. Most often it means simply being there when another is in need. It means seeing Jesus Christ in your spouse, in your children and grandchildren, in everyone you meet…and letting them see Jesus Christ in you.

Jesus calls us to love the unloved, to feed those who hunger and thirst for God’s presence in their lives. And He calls us to be that presence, to be God’s quiet, loving presence.

We are the called, brothers and sisters. This is our identity as Christians. This is the meaning of our lives. Let’s all try to live a life worthy of our calling.

Our loving relationship with God, then, must also extend to others.

———————- 

Jesus was always teaching, wasn’t He? And like any good teacher, He was always being questioned.

Even as a youth, as a twelve-year-old in the Temple, Jesus answered the questions of the wise. Luke tells us that “all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers” [Lk 2:47]. Isn’t that remarkable? They, the Temple’s wise ones, were questioning Him!

And the questions continued right up to that final barrage Jesus received from Pilate, as He stood before him facing death. Even Pilate, the Roman Patrician who no doubt considered the Jews little more than rabble – even Pilate sought answers from this Jesus, this teacher whom he would soon judge under man's law. 

“Are you the King of the Jews?” [Jn 18:33]

“Where are you from?” [Jn 19:9]

“Do you not you know that I have…power to crucify you?” [Jn 19:10]

And, of course, that other question, sneered by Pilate, that first-century relativist: 

“What is truth?” [Jn 18:38]

Pilate should have asked, “Who is truth?”, because he was in the presence of “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

Almost everyone Jesus met asked Him questions. It’s as if, somehow, they all knew, if only subconsciously, who He really was. Those He encountered seemed to sense He was far more than just a teacher. What did the centurion say as he looked up at the crucified Jesus?

“Truly this was the Son of God” [Mt 27:54].

And then there was the scholar who approached Jesus and asked:

"Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" [Lk 10:25]

The scholar, of course, was testing Jesus. He knew the answer to his question because it was right there in the Word of God. And so, Jesus tests the tester with a question of His own:

“What is written in the Law? [Lk 10:26]

As expected, the scholar went directly to Scripture and provided the correct answer:

“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” [Lk 10:27].

But it’s not necessary to be a scholar to know God and what He expects of us. Indeed, just moments before Jesus had prayed to the Father:

“I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.” [Lk 10:21]

But not being very childlike, the scholar, hoping more to justify himself than to learn, asks Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” In His answer Jesus offers us a gift, the Parable of the Good Samaritan, a parable both scholar and childlike can understand: 

“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho...” [Lk 10:30]

But what exactly did the Samaritan do? After all, he was a Samaritan, despised by the Jews, thought to be outside the Law. And yet, he obeys that Law, doesn’t he? Well, at the very least, he listened to his well-formed conscience and acted righteously. And this set him on the path to eternal life. Remember that original question: 

“Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” [Lk 10:25]

This is what Jesus' answer is all about. Three encountered the wounded man on the road, but only one of the three did anything to help. How did Jesus put it? “Many are called but few are chosen” [Mt 22:14]

And so today, let’s reflect on our own lives. Who are the wounded you and I encounter? The physically wounded? Or mentally wounded? Or spiritually wounded? Do we even recognize them in the busyness of our lives? Or perhaps we see them, but turn away, preferring not to be bothered. Anyway, someone else will take care of them.

Is this how we hope to inherit eternal life? As Christians we should know better. To inherit eternal life, we must come to know God in faith, to know Him as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. 

This knowing of God is really a knowledge of love. As John reminds us: to know the Truth that is God is to know God, who "is Love" [1 Jn. 4:16]. It always comes back to Love, doesn’t it? To love the Lord your God with all your being, and to love your neighbor as yourself.

How did Mother Teresa put it? "If you judge people, you have no time to love them." Yes, indeed, we spend so much time judging others, and so little time loving them.

St. James reminded us all of this when he wrote that "mercy triumphs over judgment" [Jas 2:13].

We should all thank God for that.