Homily: Tuesday, 11th Week in Ordinary Time

Note: I didn't preach this homily today. Our celebrant decided to preach instead, which is his prerogative. It's no big deal since I always have a homily ready whenever I assist at Mass as the deacon. Sometimes I'm asked to preach, and sometimes I'm not. Anyway, this unpreached homily follows:

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Readings: 2 Cor 8:1-9; Ps 146; Mt 5:43-48

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On Sunday, one of my sons posted a Father’s Day note on Facebook. He began with a bunch of nice words about me, and then he added: “He wasn’t perfect, and he never said he was, unless he was joking.”

I wasn’t sure what to make of that, but it got me thinking of what Jesus told us in today’s Gospel passage from the Sermon on the Mount.

“So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect."

I suspect these words have made a lot of Christians suddenly pay attention and scratch their heads. Did He really mean that? How can we, these obviously imperfect beings, be perfect. Yes, indeed, Jesus sure can make life difficult, can’t He? 

Back when we were young and doing well in the world, a lot of us thought we were…well, if not perfect, at least pretty good. I remember the first time I realized I harbored some major imperfections – things that separated me from what God wanted for me. 

I was a Navy pilot during the war in Vietnam. At the time, I flew search and rescue helicopters. All I wanted to do was pickup American pilots who’d been shot down, and get them to safety. But at the time, the Communists of both North Vietnam and the Viet Cong were doing their very best to kill me. And here’s Jesus telling me to “love your enemies.” Let me tell you, that ain’t so easy when they’re shooting at you. Yes, they were an easy enemy to hate. But hating them troubled me because I knew what Jesus had commanded of us.

And so, one day I paid a visit to the Catholic chaplain and asked how we could reconcile loving our enemies with this conflict in which we were engaged. I’ll always remember that conversation. I won’t go into our rather lengthy discussion on the just war doctrine. That’s a subject for another time. But I will tell you what this young priest had to say about enemies and hatred and love and forgiveness.

He began by saying that if our enemies are those we hate, we have ceased being Christians. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are to hate no one. But if our enemies are those who hate us, then we will always have enemies. After all, Jesus had many enemies because He did the Father’s will: He spoke the truth and He loved. He loved all, especially those despised by the world, and He spoke the truth even when it upset people.

Our enemies decide how they will treat us. We decide only to love them or hate them. Love and hate, then, are not emotions. They’re decisions. Jesus calls us to love regardless of the evil others do. And He calls to exclude no one from our love.

These are hard words for us, aren’t they? Hard indeed…until we come face to face with the Cross, and we hear His words:

“Father, forgive them, they know not what they do” [Lk 23:34].

There, on the Cross, we encounter Divine Mercy: God’s perfect love, a love that demands forgiveness. Forgiveness is the only thing we can do to those we are called to love. If we refuse to forgive, we refuse to love.

About 30 years ago I saw the movie, “Dead Man Walking” about a convicted killer named Robert Willie who'd been sentenced to death. Well, one person you won’t see in the movie is Debbie Morris, the one victim who miraculously survived her horrific ordeal at the hands of Willie. After Willie’s execution, she said, “Justice didn’t do a thing to heal me. Forgiveness did.”

Yes, it’s easy to hate and scream for justice, for man’s justice, but it never really brings healing, or the so-called "closure" the world promises. Only forgiveness does that. Only forgiveness heals.

Yes, we can defend ourselves from evil, but in defending ourselves we must not produce even greater evils. The world will never run out of objects for our hatred, especially today when enemies abound. How did Paul put it to the Corinthians:

“…test the genuineness of your love by your concern for others” [2 Cor 8:8].

After all, we were created in God’s image and likeness, so He really does call us to perfection, to live up to His expectations for us, to live up to that image and likeness. He calls each of us to view this life as a pilgrimage of love, one in which we seek out others, finding Jesus Christ in each person we meet, and letting them recognize Jesus in us.

Let God be the one who will judge His creations. We need only love and forgive. I’ve long thought this is what Jesus means when He commands us to “be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

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)

Homily: 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C

I have embedded a video of my homily for the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). The full text of the homily follows:

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Readings: Wis 9:13-18; Ps 90; Phmn 9-10,12-17; Lk 14:25-33
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For several weeks now, Jesus has given us some hard teachings. He certainly hasn't minced words has he? 

Perhaps before we attempt to grasp what Jesus is telling us in today's Gospel passage from Luke, we should consider the opening words of our first reading from the Book of Wisdom:

"For what man can learn the counsel of God? Or who can discern what the Lord wills? For the reasoning of mortals is worthless, and our designs are likely to fail" [Wis 9:13-14].  

In effect we're told that without God's help, without His revelation, we cannot understand His will for us, His plan for our salvation. We must, then, set aside our own human judgments, our own worldly concerns, and listen to what God is telling us. Too often we filter the words of Jesus through the lens of our humanity, forgetting that God's ways are very different from the ways of our world. 

Of course, this is nothing new. Remember how Our Lord rebuked Peter when the apostle tried to lead Jesus away from the Cross? How did Jesus respond?

"Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men" [Mt 16:23].

Believe me, like Peter, you and I can get caught up in our world, a world that colors so much of our thinking. It's hard to avoid it, especially today, so pervasive, so intrusive is the world in our lives. The great crowds surrounding Jesus might not have had the Internet, but they were plagued by their own set of worldly influences.

Interestingly, the fact that Jesus drew such crowds really bothered some folks, especially the self-important folks. That, too, hasn't changed much. Pope St. John Paul II visited 129 countries during his papacy, and drew huge crowds everywhere. I once heard a grumpy bishop say, "This pope probably travels too much. It might be better if he stayed in Rome and paid more attention to the Church."

St. John Paul, of course, knew that the Church isn't a collection of Vatican buildings and the people who occupy them. No, the Church is far more expansive; it fills the earth because Jesus called us to "Make disciples of all nations..." [Mt 28:19]. Like Jesus, St. John Paul traveled on his road, calling us all to discipleship.

But I wonder what that Galilean crowd thought when they heard these words of Jesus?

"If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple" [Lk 14:26].

Maybe a more important question is, what do you and I think when we hear these words? 

Most people are troubled by the use of the word "hate" which seems to violate the very heart of Christian teaching. But we shouldn't get too bothered by the effects of translations. It's actually more accurate to understand hate in this sense as meaning "love less." This becomes clear when we read Matthew's account of this same teaching by Jesus:

"Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me." [Mt 10:37-38]

Here we seem to find words we can accept...but, in truth, we really don't accept them, do we? Or perhaps I should say, how we live our lives doesn't always reflect an acceptance of Jesus' teaching.

Jesus is actually telling His budding disciples what their discipleship is all about. He'd just called His twelve apostles and they were together on the road, making their way through the towns and villages of Galilee. But, as Luke tells us, they were joined by great crowds, who followed Jesus. 

It was to all of these that Jesus revealed something of God's will, the divine intention, and He did so through a pair of brief parables. On the surface the parables seem to address the construction of farm buildings and the tactics of waging war, but like every parable their true meaning is much deeper. 

Jesus was really describing the cost of discipleship, that if we hope to follow Him we'd better first calculate that cost. Are you willing, He asks the disciples, to accept the cost of placing God first in your life?

This wasn't new to believing Jews since it was proclaimed in the Shema' - the very foundation of Jewish faith, introduced by Moses with the words:

"Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength" [Dt 6:4].

The problem is, you and I and that crowd of Galileans are so wrapped up in the realities of this world, so close to them, it's easy for us sinners to put these created realities first, to put them ahead of God. No! the Shema' tells us: God, the Creator of all that is good, must be first.

And now, speaking to the crowds, Jesus applied this revealed truth to Himself - that to be God's disciple is to be His disciple. Once more He reveals His divinity, providing more ammunition to the Pharisees. But Jesus is focused on the people.

The Cost of Discipleship

Are you willing, He asks them and us, to place your love for me above the love you have for those in the world who are most precious to you?

Do you understand that loving God must be a sacrificial love, that other loves in your life must never come first?

To follow Jesus isn't simply to tag along behind Him. To follow Him is to become a living image of Jesus...but even more than that, it means being wherever Jesus is, serving Him by doing whatever Jesus happens to be doing. It means being like Mary, whose birthday we celebrate today, being the perfect disciple, always looking to Jesus.

To do what Jesus does: to bring comfort and healing to the sick, to feed the hungry, to forgive those who have hurt you, to see God's presence in every person you encounter.

To love beyond your family and friends, beyond those you're expected to love. To love less your own life and love more the lives of others.

It's not about me bringing Jesus into my life, but the exact opposite: it's about letting Jesus rule me. St. Paul said it best: 

"I live no longer I, but Christ who lives in me" [Gal 2:20].

Jesus calls us to understand what He is asking of us before we commit our lives to Him. He wants disciples who know and accept the cost, disciples who follow full-heartedly. The half-hearted, the lukewarm, need not apply.

Embrace the Gospel, He calls to us, embrace it without compromise; and this can be frightening. It demands we set aside our own plans, that we abandon ourselves in trust to the will of God.

Yes, it can be frightening, and overcome by fear or by false pride many turn away from God. Others, motivated by a false humility, do the same, unable to accept the unconditional love of God. 

Once again Simon Peter provides an example. On the day He first perceived, if only vaguely, the Lord's divinity, he fell down in that boat, fell before Jesus and said:

"Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man" [Lk 5:8].

Depart from me, Lord

To love God in His perfection is also to recognize our own imperfections, our own sinfulness. Peter had gone this far, but hadn't yet tasted God's mercy. Soon enough, though, Peter witnessed God's forgiveness, and personally experienced the Divine Mercy Jesus showers on the repentant. 

Discipleship is not easy; indeed, it's so difficult we can't do it alone. Jesus knows this and promises to walk the road with us, just as He walked with the twelve along the hard roads of Galilee on His way to Jerusalem, on His way to the Cross and our salvation.

He wants to walk by our side, brothers and sisters, to be your strength and my strength.

He wants to make the impossible possible.

Homily: Saturday, 5th Week of Easter

Readings: Acts 16:1-10; Ps 100; Jn 15:18-21
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I always like it when the Gospel quotes Jesus directly. It's as if the evangelist - in this instance, John - is telling us, "OK, this isn't me speaking here. This is Jesus Himself, this is exactly what He said, so you'd better listen carefully to His words."

Interestingly, in this passage from John's Gospel, Jesus uses one word several times: the word, "hate." Hate's a strong word, isn't it? Jesus could have used "dislike" or "turn away from" or even "reject," but He didn't. He used "hate." And when He said, "hate," He was talking about the world's attitude toward Him, and by extension toward those who follow Him, and that's you and me.

Now I don't know about you, but I don't like the thought of someone hating me. When I'm the object of hatred I experience a certain tension; opposing forces tug at me. On one side I find myself questioning my own words and actions. What could have inspired such hatred? There's just something very self-damaging about being hated. Of course, the opposing tendency is to respond in kind: to hate the hater.

When I was a boy, my father would recruit me to help him on Saturday mornings. He loved to work with wood and always had a project or two in the works. I would do the boring work: holding boards while he sawed or nailed; helping him measure and re-measure; all this while I wanted to be outside with my friends. But as we worked, we would talk, and he'd use this time together to teach me things.

I remember one morning telling him about a little skirmish I'd been involved in at school. It was one of those stupid little fights between two ten-year-old boys. I was one and Donnie Anderson was the other. Today I can't recall the cause of it, but I do remember telling Dad that I thought Donnie was a jerk. "I really hate that kid," I said.

Dad just looked at me and said, "You know, hatred is really just selfishness."

Just what I wanted to hear from good ol' Dad. He went on to explain that by hating another we place ourselves above him, and as Christians we can't do that. God loves and we must love as well. But that's no fun, and we can always find a reason to hate, can't we?

Longfellow, in his play, "The Spanish Student," had one of the characters admit:

There's nothing in this world so sweet as love,
And next to love the sweetest thing is hate.

Yes, as the saying goes, "revenge is sweet," and it's easy to hate. Hate polishes up the self-image, doesn't it? It makes us feel so superior, and when we take action, based on that hatred, we're really just trying to destroy another.

I once read about a Navy doctor during World War II who was aboard an American warship that was transporting wounded Japanese prisoners. He took such excellent care of the prisoners that some of the American officers protested. "Treat those animals the same way they treat our wounded," they told him.

"No," he replied, "Let them play by their rules. I play by a different set of rules, and if that bothers anybody, I'm sorry. I'm going to do my best to replace whatever hatred they have in their hearts with love. That's the only way we're ever going to have peace in this world."

It takes a lot of courage to be a true Christian when the world is screaming contrary values at you. How did Jesus put it in today's Gospel?

"If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world...the world hates you...If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you" [Jn 15:19,20].

Yes, indeed, being a Christian creates some difficult choices, especially if we hope to gain the world's respect and escape persecution.

If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you

Can we really expect to receive better treatment than Jesus? Not if we listen to Our Lord and, like that Navy doctor, exchange hate for love.

This leads us to the question we all have to ask ourselves every day: What kind of rules do I play by? The rules of the world? Or the rules of Jesus?

Olympics and other things

I must be getting old, turning into a kind of curmudgeon, because I find myself increasingly at odds with what our society offers up as good and worthy. No, that's not quite right. Society doesn't simply offer these things to us and tell us they're good; rather it throws them at us, rubs our noses in them, submerges us in their squalor, and then tells us to inhale deeply. It then attacks and intimidates any who might in the smallest way object to such treatment. Examples abound...

The reaction to the comments of Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy are beyond belief. Well, they should be beyond belief, but in our increasingly decadent society, you can safely believe them. Mr. Cathy, speaking of his company, simply said:

"We are very much supportive of the family -- the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that. We intend to stay the course. We know that it might not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles." 

Omigosh! The man unwittingly pulled a half-dozen politically incorrect triggers and apparently exposed himself as an ignorant, intolerant, homophobic troglodyte. No doubt Eric Holder has already put together a team of prosecutors to investigate the criminal acts that obviously lie behind such comments. The reactions from across this once-great land were near instantaneous.

Mayor Menino "talking"

Mayor Tom Menino, perhaps the most inarticulate mayor in America, reacted with remarkable stupidity and declared that Chick-fil-A didn't belong in Boston, the city that boasted the Freedom Trail. It would seem Mr. Cathy, by exercising his freedom of speech in support of values held by the vast majority of Americans for over two centuries, is to be denied that freedom in a city that played such a major role in our nation's fight for freedom. The mayor only reinforces my decision almost a decade ago to leave Massachusetts for Florida. In Chicago too -- where else but corrupt, murderous Chicago? -- Chick-fil-A's despicable values were declared not to be "Chicago's values." Similar comments gushed forth from many of the nation's self-proclaimed smart people.

Personally, I'm with Mr. Cathy. Homosexual marriage is an abomination. The homosexual lifestyle is sinful, just as fornication and adultery and abortion and theft and murder are sinful. One cannot engage in any of these and lead the kind of holy life God wants for us.

I've also decided to visit our local Chick-fil-A on Monday and consume one of their salads (I'm on a diet) in support of Mr. Cathy and his family. I'd go tomorrow after Mass, but Chick-fil-A, in open defiance of market economics, has a "closed on Sunday" policy. Our local Chick-fil-A has also supported one of the ministries dear to my heart: the Wildwood Soup Kitchen, thus giving me another reason to support them in turn.

To read more on Chick-fil-A and its maniacal detractors, check out Mark Steyn's latest column.

Some still enjoy the Olympics

Then there are the Olympics. In truth, I really don't care about the Olympic Games. I don't care if the US athletes win or lose. I don't care about gold medal count or new world records. Why bother? The Olympics are no longer the global venue they once were for amateur athletes to compete worthily in a display of true sportsmanship. The games have simply become another arena for professional athletes to display their oversized egos on a grander scale. Gone is any pretense of gentlemanly competition among amateur athletes. The Olympics have been transformed into a series of in-your-face events, more similar to Roman gladiatorial bouts than real sport. The fact that all athletes must be tested for drugs, blood doping, and other performance enhancing techniques says much about the place of sportsmanship in the Olympics and our society at large. And have you noticed the almost religious nature of so many of the Olympic ceremonies? Watching them is like participating in some ancient pagan ritual -- all very bizarre. Most readers probably disagree with me, but, hey, we all have a right to waste our time in different ways. For me, I will find something else to occupy me during the next few weeks

Perhaps one of the best indicators of the direction of our society is how much we pay professional athletes and entertainers. Have you noticed how business people come under constant attack for the money they make, but we rarely hear a word about the compensation enjoyed by celebrities? And yet businesses create jobs for the rest of us and provide useful products and services rather than mere entertainment. I suspect, though, that celebrities and even many business people make far more money than they truly deserve, and I fear for their salvation because so many never seem satisfied with what they have. Don't they realize that their talents aren't self-generated but are gifts from God? Their praise and thanks should be directed toward Him and not toward themselves. And their energies should be directed not toward the pursuit of more money, but toward the pursuit of good. How did St. Paul put it?

"For the love of money is the root of all evils, and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains." [1 Tim 6:10]

Excess is never attractive, nor is it good for the soul. (All you celebrity junkies might want to read this article on celebrity excess -- both sad and funny.)  I certainly don't envy the rich, whether they are business people or athletes or rock stars or actors or corrupt politicians. Money has never been a particularly strong motivator for me and certainly no sane person can possibly enjoy being envious. (I am far more susceptible to other of the deadly sins.) The trouble is, the extravagant lifestyles fueled by all this money can be very attractive to young people. This becomes evident when one observes the more talented college athletes as they enter the ranks of professionals. They seem to be afflicted with a sense of entitlement, an attitude nourished and encouraged by parents, coaches, and school administrators from the time their talent first manifested itself. At some colleges, and Penn State is just one obvious recent example, the standing of the school's athletic programs trumps most other considerations, even basic morality. Many of our society's newly discovered "values" have apparently migrated from the world of professional sports and entertainment to the rest of society. Of course, many of these values originated in the academic halls, so it is only fitting that they should ultimately infect the field house and the stadium.

Focusing only on the health of the college and university, I offer a most radical solution: the complete elimination of intercollegiate sports and their replacement with intramural athletic programs. This, of course, will never happen, not because of a love for sport, but because of a love for money. These programs are simply too profitable. And, as always, St. Paul is proven correct.

Lest I sound too pessimistic about our society, let me conclude with a more positive observation. It relates to one of the good things that came out of the tragedy in that Aurora, Colorado movie theater. The manly virtue of sacrifice above self is still alive within many Americans. A number of the men who lost their lives did so by intentionally placing their own bodies in the line of fire to protect the women they were with. God bless them and keep them. You see, it's the good people of this country, the hard-working folks we know and see every day, who live and keep the values we hold dear, who truly set this nation's standards. It's not the politicians or the baseball players or the movie actors. It is the people who give me hope, not the president.