SO MUCH MORE!
April 5, 2020
Deacon Dennis Walters

T he rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar” has been enjoying a revival lately. First produced in 1970, it is currently touring around the world. The plot covers the last week of Jesus’ life, told from the viewpoint of Judas Iscariot, disillusioned with Jesus and his mission. Throughout the opera, the questions raised in the title song recur over and over: “Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, Who are you? What have you sacrificed? Do you think you’re what they say you are?”

The storyline, particularly as it concerns the characters of Jesus and Judas, has more in common with the 3rd-century Gnostic “Gospel of Judas” than it does with the four canonical gospels. All the characters, except only Jesus himself, are skeptical of his claim to be the Son of God. Jesus is a self-absorbed showman; the eleven apostles are little more than groupies; the Jewish authorities believe him a fake and want him out of the way; and Judas kills himself feeling that God has manipulated him into betraying Jesus. The questions asked in the play reflect a modern unwillingness to commit to the truth. According to the lyrics of the song, his crucifixion is nothing more than the ultimate spectacle, “a record breaker.”

There’s no question that Jesus’ real contemporaries had trouble with his claims to divinity. Many people did view Jesus as an entertainer; his miraculous healings drew large crowds, and did not always result in attracting serious disciples. But often they did. Within fifteen years after Jesus’ death, a major persecutor of Christians, the highly educated and ambitious Saul of Tarsus, became totally convinced that Jesus was who he said he was. And within the first thirty years, most of Paul’s letters and at least three of the four gospels had been written, churches were being formed, and the whole Roman empire was being drawn into a living and vibrant faith.

Today’s liturgy provides two gospel readings that juxtapose contrasting events. In the first, Jesus enters Jerusalem, seated on the colt of a donkey, in a procession of disciples singing and waving palm branches and shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David.” The word “Hosanna,” used here as a jubilant chant, is actually a prayer beseeching God to “Grant [us] salvation.” The second reading, the story of Jesus’ passion according to Matthew, narrates how God answered that prayer.

To place Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem in its immediate historical context, it occurs at the beginning of Passover week. Jews from all over the Roman empire were pouring into the city on pilgrimage. They often arrived in groups, celebrating their entry after a long trip by chanting one or more of the “songs of Ascent,” a group of psalms for pilgrims going up to Jerusalem. Just getting there was cause for celebration. What seems to have set Jesus’ entry apart from that of other groups was his riding a mount — most people walked — plus the excitement of his disciples laying cloaks on the road, waving branches, and shouting Jesus’ royal title “Son of David.” It was a giddy time, but one that placed the Roman authorities on high alert for trouble.

Writing to the Philippian church thirty years later, St. Paul urges his audience to have the attitude of “Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.” Another possible translation of that verse reads, “he did not regard his equality with God something to be exploited.” A mere showman, a superstar if you will, would exploit this event for publicity— and, judging from the response of the Pharisees who told Jesus to control his disciples, he got plenty of that. But Matthew sees the situation differently. He quotes the prophet Zechariah: “Look, your king comes to you. Triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on an ass, on a colt the foal of an ass.” He enters Jerusalem not as a showman but as the royal son of David. His riding on a donkey recalls King David returning in triumph to Jerusalem after Absalom’s coup attempt, mounted on the steed Israelite kings traditionally used, a white mule.

In his volume Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week, Benedict XVI notes that, by his entry into Jerusalem, “Jesus is indeed making a royal claim. He wants his path and his action to be understood in terms of Old Testament promises that are fulfilled in his person. …His claim is based on obedience to the mission received from his Father.” St. Paul emphasizes Jesus’ obedience “to the point of death” — and he exclaims, “even death on a cross!” That anyone would willingly “empty himself” to undergo a most agonizing and humiliating death by being nailed to that instrument of torture Paul considers astounding.

To human eyes, Jesus’ “royal claim” ended in the tomb, leading some to ask, “What indeed have you sacrificed?” But in God’s eyes, Jesus’ claim is validated by his resurrection. His death opens the heavenly Jerusalem to all who wish to follow him into that city. Therefore, “God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name above every other name, that at the name of Jesus” — which means “Yahweh is salvation” — “every knee should bend” in homage. Jesus Christ is no mere superstar, enjoying his three years of fame, having sacrificed nothing. Then and now, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, Jesus Christ is King. Jesus Christ is Lord. 

DISAPPOINTMENT
March 29, 2020
Fr. Bosco Padamattumma

“L ord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died,” Martha and Mary say. It’s not hard to imagine the questions that might be running through the minds of the disciples and the hearts of Mary and Martha. They are disappointed. Jesus’ friend Lazarus, the only brother of Martha and Mary, is dead. Why didn’t God do something?

That question is the valley that cuts through the center of our lives. And yet, it’s not a simple “yes” or “no” kind of question. Neither is it answered once and for all. It’s a question we live with and ask over and over.

Our lives are filled with unanswered questions. The unanswered questions of life tend to leave us disappointed; disappointment is wrapped up in and bound by our unmet expectations. That’s where Mary and Martha are in today’s Gospel (John 11:1-45). They are disappointed. “Lord, if you have been here, my brother would not have died,” they both say separately to Jesus. 

Even the crowd that follows Mary is disappointed. They might have asked, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” Jesus is moved by their sorrow and pain. Jesus wept. This verse – John 11.35 – is the shortest verse in the entire Bible.

I know disappointments, and I’ll bet you do too. We want answers, explanations, and understanding. Jesus does not offer answers or explanations to Mary and Martha… or to us. Instead, he uses our disappointment as “an agency for transformation.” Jesus seems to know that disappointment is inescapable, necessary, and even a faithful response to life’s circumstances. He neither criticizes nor chastises Martha and Mary for their disappointment. Instead, he uses it as an opening and entry point into their lives.

There’s something honest, heartfelt, and real about Mary and Martha’s words of disappointment to Jesus. They are offering and making themselves available to him. They rethink what they know about life, death, and resurrection. They risk smelling the stench of death. They are walking in that valley that cuts through the center of their lives.

While we might want to escape our disappointments, life wants to use them. Life will not waste our disappointments, and Jesus always stands in the middle of life. 

Disappointment calls into question our assumptions about life, ourselves, each other, and God. Disappointment asks us to reassess ourselves and our inner world. It is the first step in freeing us from misguided assumptions. It breaks old patterns of seeing and relating that have become hardened and less than life sustaining. It opens our eyes to a deeper way of seeing. Jesus uses our disappointment in the unanswered questions of life to invite us to a “larger foundational reality” than what we create for ourselves and project onto the world.

Isn’t that what he’s doing with Mary and Martha? “I am the resurrection and life.” “Take away the stone.” “Did I not tell you that you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” “Lazarus come out.” “Unbind him and let him go.” With those words Jesus is holding before Martha and Mary the valley that cuts through the center of their lives. “Mortal, can these bones live again?” 

The great question before us (and Mary and Martha) is whether we experience our disappointment as an opportunity for seeing and engaging our lives and world in new, different, and life-giving ways, or whether we experience it only as a wound that makes us retreat from further participation (Whyte, p. 64-65). It’s a question we answer every day. It’s a question Jesus answered throughout his life.

Don’t think that Jesus did not know disappointment. He surely did. He knew disappointment in the death of Lazarus, the crucifixion, Peter’s drawn sword and violence, Judas’ betrayal, the disciples sleeping in the garden, the way his Father’s house had been turned into a den of robbers, his disciples arguing about who was the greatest, the disciples’ misunderstanding of who he is, the world’s refusal to receive him, and in a myriad of other ways.

Every disappointment held before him, as it does for us, the choice between engaging or retreating from the world and our lives. He refused to be stopped by his disappointments. Instead, he used them as entry points into our lives. They became points of identification with us. His every disappointment become one more step deeper into the valley that cuts through the center of our lives.

So, let me ask you again: What is the valley that cuts through the center of your life? Whatever it is, it’s a place through which Jesus has walked and shown the way forward. It is not the dark place we often think it is. It’s a path that opens to new life, a clearer way of seeing, a truer sense of ourselves, and a deeper experience of Christ. It becomes the place of our unbinding and being let go.

Don’t hold on to the past. Do not hold on to sin. Do not hold on to death!

THE PROPHET
March 22, 2020
Fr. Bosco Padamattummal

In today’s reading from the ninth chapter of the Gospel of John, the entire chapter – from beginning to end – is basically built around one miraculous healing. The whole chapter! Much of it is given to the discussion of the miracle itself as the “unbelief investigates a miracle.”

At the request of the Lord, the blind man went and washed in the pool of Siloam and then came back seeing. Therefore, the neighbors and those who previously saw him as a beggar were saying, “Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is he”; others said, “No, but he is like him.” He said, “I am the man.” So they were saying to him, ”How then were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man who is called Jesus healed me.”

At the interrogation by the Pharisees, the blind man states that Jesus is a prophet. They said to him, “Where is He?” He said, “I do not know.” These spiritually blind people are asking direction from a formerly blind man to go and look for Jesus. How can he help? He had never seen any place or people before this miracle happened.

The prophet Isaiah in chapter 42 verse 7 said the Messiah would come and heal; He would give sight to the blind. Throughout the Old Testament we don’t see any miracles of giving sight to the blind, but in the New Testament there are five different miracles of giving sight to the blind. And this is the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecy in the Servant Song of Isaiah, chapter 42. 

This miracle alone should have substantially changed the Jewish leaders’ view of Jesus. If they hadn’t already understood that He was divine, this should have been enough to affirm His claim to divinity. But instead of coming to faith, instead of acknowledging that there was no human explanation for what they had seen and experienced, all it does is elevate their animosity. It elevates their anger. The more evidence that Jesus gives, the angrier they become. Their hatred escalates. 

Today’s reading from John chapter 9 follows John 8:58 where, after a heated discussion between the Jewish leadership and Jesus in the temple area, Jesus declared that He is the I AM, that is He is God Himself. They were so infuriated at what they saw as blasphemy that they picked up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself from them and went out of the temple. 

As he went out of the temple, Jesus saw this man, blind from birth, who was sitting at one of the temple gates, begging. I just need to make the note that Jesus is never too concerned with His own life. He stopped, even though He was at high-risk and in danger, escaping from being stoned. But He stopped to demonstrate grace, and power, and mercy, and compassion, and judgment, and even salvation on a blind beggar. This is very much like Jesus at the very time of His death, collecting a thief on the way to His own death and resurrection. 

Today I would like to focus on one word the blind man said about Jesus – that He is a prophet who comes for judgment – and what that might mean for us. What does a prophetic Jesus have to say about you and me? Prophets and judgment tend to make us a bit uncomfortable. Prophets speak words we often do not want to hear. They show us truths we often do not want to see. They ask us to change. And judgment often leaves us thinking about wrongdoing and punishment. Prophets generally do not work within the system, but often stand outside the system Prophets speak against that which diminishes human dignity. They speak a difficult truth to us, calling us to change; or they offer words of consolation and hope and open our eyes to a new life, a new seeing, a new understanding, a new faith. We don’t often think or speak of Jesus as a prophet, and yet that is exactly how the man who has been given new sight sees Jesus. “He is a prophet,” he tells the Pharisees.

The judgment for which Jesus comes into this world is not so much a judgment about good or bad, right or wrong, in or out, saved or damned. It is a judgment about our seeing. This is about spiritual seeing. Do we see with eyes opened or do we see with eyes closed?

When we live and see with our eyes closed, we withhold mercy, live in fear, let anger control our lives. When we are unforgiving of ourselves or another, we are seeing with eyes closed. Sometimes we either refuse or are unable to see the pain or needs of another. When we love ourselves more than our neighbor, we are seeing with eyes closed, blind to the value of the other’s life. When violence becomes our default response, we are seeing with closed eyes. In all those and a thousand other ways we see with our eyes closed.

Jesus did not say that He came into this world to make judgments but “for judgment.” His judgment is not a series of individual decisions. Rather, his very life and presence are the judgment. His compassion is a judgment on our indifference and apathy. His justice is a judgment on injustice. His nonviolence is a judgment on our violence. His mercy is a judgment on condemnation. His forgiveness is a judgment on guilt. His welcome is a judgment on exclusion. His life of prayer is a judgment on our attempts at living self-sufficiently. His simplicity is a judgment on our overly busy and cluttered lives. His truth is a judgment on lies, falsehoods, and alternative facts. His wholeheartedness is a judgment on our fragmented and divided world. His resurrection is a judgment on death.

Everything about Jesus, His life, His words, His actions, are a judgment on our lives and world. That judgment offers us the chance to see as He sees, to live as He lives, and to be as He is.

DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CHRIST

After consultation with the priests of the diocese, who were of mixed minds on this matter, and out of deep concern for the health of all our folks especially our elders, and with due deference to medical and government authorities, it has been decided that all public Masses, events, and gatherings will be cancelled throughout the Diocese of Lansing beginning tomorrow morning (March 18, 2020) lasting, for now, through Wednesday of Holy Week (April 8, 2020). We will see at that time whether these plans will have to change.

Private Baptisms, Marriages, and Funerals may continue but only with immediate family present. As a reminder, all Catholics in the diocese are dispensed from the obligation of Sunday Mass participation through Easter Sunday. I ask our pastors to keep Churches open for private prayer.

The Holy Mass is our way to render back to God our worship and thanks for his many blessings to and for us, his beloved sons and daughters. We are blessed that all our priests will continue to offer daily private Masses in order to fulfill our blessed duty to God and to lift up our needs in prayerful petition to our Heavenly Father. Many of these daily Masses have intentions applied to them and those will be honored; in addition, feel free to submit other needs to your pastors to include at the altar.

The loss of the regular reception of Holy Communion is a great cross for many; during this fast from receiving our Lord in the Eucharist please pray that Jesus will enter your hearts in an act of Spiritual Communion. As for Sunday, they have always been a day of worship for us. Please, let these coming Sundays be times of family prayer.

St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, Pray for Us. Our Lady, Health of the Sick, Pray for Us. Our Lady, Comforter of the Afflicted, Pray for Us. Assuring of my prayers, I am sincerely yours in Christ, + Earl Boyea Bishop of Lansing

THE SICK WHO NEED A PHYSICIAN
March 15, 2020
Fr. Bosco Padamattummal

The Gospel story of the woman at the well is the story of Jesus evangelizing an outcast woman and of her coming to salvation. And in fact, her salvation is so evident that immediately she is the human witness that brings people of her village to Jesus. John 4:39 says: “From that city, many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman.” The purpose of John writing this story is stated again in Chapter 20, verse 31 of his Gospel: “These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life in His name.”

As we look at this, we see the glory of Christ. But we also want to see how He evangelized this woman. When Jesus comes into the life of this woman, she is very indifferent to the religious belief, an outcast, an immoral woman who has no thought about Him, who doesn’t know anything about Him, doesn’t care anything about Him, doesn’t know who He is, has never heard Him teach, has never seen a miracle or heard about a miracle–she is completely
indifferent. She is not like Nicodemus in the Gospel. Nicodemus was not religiously, spiritually indifferent. He was a teacher, the teacher in Israel, Old Testament scholar, knew he didn’t have eternal life, knew he wasn’t in the kingdom, knew he wasn’t right with God because all Pharisaic hypocrites know they’re hypocrites. And in the darkness of night, he comes to Jesus with his heart crying out for the truth. But not this woman. This woman has no spiritual interest at all in the beginning.

And in this account, Jesus finally reaches the location where Jacob’s well is, near the town of Sychar. By walking 20 miles through that hill country, the humanity of Jesus is on display as He is weary and thirsty, sitting by a well to drink some water. But necessity from a divine standpoint was absolutely the case. His divinity is also on display because He meets a woman whom He has never met in His life, but He knows her entire history because He is omniscient God. Usually the women went to get water at dusk. But this woman comes alone at noon. Why doesn’t she go when all the other women go, at dusk? The answer may be that everybody in town knew her and they knew the kind of woman she was. So maybe she came here at noon to avoid the near local encounter with other women. Whatever may have been her motivations, God had her right where she was supposed to be. It was a divine necessity for her conversion, and through her for the salvation of other Samaritan villagers.

Jesus says to the woman, “Give Me a drink.” This is how our Lord initiates evangelizing an indifferent and ignorant woman. He makes a connection. He puts Himself in a position to have her do something for Him which then obligates Him to her. When He speaks to this Samaritan woman, it is shocking. First of all, Jews have no dealings with Samaritans; they were enemies. But our Lord paid absolutely no attention to the traditions, to the hostilities between nations. He saw this as a mission opportunity, regardless of who she was. And after all, He was the Savior of the world. What Jesus is doing is preparing this careless sinner to be brought to conviction and repentance over her wretched condition. Since she is unwilling to tell the whole truth, Jesus tells it for her. She had a man in her life, living with her, but he was not her husband. He is telling her – and us in this modern world – that living together is wrong. It is not the same as the sacrament of marriage which is also a covenant – binding, formal, social, official, and public. When her sinful life has been exposed, she can’t hide; there’s nowhere to go. And her response is amazing. It is in verse 19: “The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.’” Now He is no longer a delusional stranger; He is a prophet. In response to her faith, in response to her repentance, the one who was completely disinterested now wants to know the truth about the life of God that is eternal, that her heart craves so desperately. She wants forgiveness for her wretched life. And in that moment when she believes and when she repents, He is revealed to her.  

 Here in this passage is the first time the identity of Jesus as the Messiah comes from His own lips, and that we find in verses 25 and 26 where the woman speaks of the Christ, the Messiah who will come, and Jesus says to her in verse 26: “I who speak to you am He.” She becomes a missionary for the salvation of all the villagers who never knew him as the messiah. We know she was converted from verse 39: “From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified.” It is a fulfillment of the declaration of Jesus that He has come to save people from every tongue and tribe and nation. This is the testimony of Scripture in Romans 10: “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved,” whether Jew or Gentile.

Dear brothers and sisters, just as this Samaritan woman’s testimony brought eternal life to many in that Samaritan village, so too our life should bring people to Jesus – in our family or in the society, people who alienated from God or not interested in the church or religion They are the sick who need the physician.

THE DIFFERENCE THE CREED MAKES
March 8, 2020
Deacon Dennis Walters

I  want to conclude last month’s series on the Creed with a few remarks on what practical meaning the Creed has for our lives.

We saw earlier that the creeds encapsulate a view of reality, of the way things are. When Christians say, “I believe in one God” who is Father, Son, and Spirit, they are affirming that there really is one God who is a Trinity of Persons. The creeds list things that are objective, but they’re not always observable. We have to rely on the truthfulness of God who revealed them.

Computer programmers like to distinguish between data and information. Data are bits of objective facts that don’t mean anything until someone puts them together. Information is an arrangement of data to give them meaning. The meaning lies behind the data. The statements of the creeds are data arranged so as to present the truth of reality and a rule of life.

So what do the creeds mean for us in practice? If there is only one God, then it’s pointless to pursue religions that say otherwise or that deny His existence. You won’t get far. And if this one God is an allpowerful maker of everything that is, including Nature, then neither Nature nor anything else created can explain why you exist as a creature. For that, you must go to the Source.

“The Source” is what the creeds call the Father. Although Jews would not call God “Father,” and Muslims think calling Him that is blasphemy, Jesus wants you to call God “Father” and be intimate with Him — but neither chummy nor intimidated. Just as a proper respect for water or fire or electricity can make your life pleasant (and disrespect of them can kill you), so a healthy respect for God brings peace. The Old Testament virtue of Fear of the Lord didn’t mean dread but a respectful love. Real fear of the Lord is a gift of the Holy Spirit. So you do well to ask the Holy Spirit for it, not once but every day.

As the Son, Jesus is God with a human face. But because he really is “true God from true God,” as the Nicene Creed says, fear of the Lord applies to him as it does to the Father. You don’t take Jesus for granted or use his name to curse. On the other hand, Jesus is always available, especially through the sacraments and the Eucharist. The most practical thing you can do is take regular advantage of them.

While the Holy Spirit doesn’t speak through prophets today as He did in the Old Testament, He still speaks. He has been active in the modern Church, raising up saints, renewing the Church through councils and renewal movements, and pouring out gifts. What does all that mean for you? The Second Vatican Council reminds us to discern the talents and spiritual gifts that we have been given, and to use them. That will call for prayerful reflection on your part as you learn your what your gifts are, pray about them, and exercise them.

You belong to a Church. That means you’re not a Christian by yourself. You belong to a group, a family, a visible society, a kingdom. The practical upshot is that you live in the group; you support it, you participate in it, you pray for it. The fact that the Church is “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic,” as the Nicene Creed says, means that you have your work cut out for you. You need to work for unity, not only with Protestant denominations but within the Church herself.

Holiness is a must, because without it heaven is closed to you. Your life’s work is to seek holiness within your particular circumstances. Your holiness also promotes the catholicity of the Church, because it is attractive to others. Along with the Church, you need to welcome others who are different from you, and you need to defend the fullness of the faith with charity. That is, of course, the apostolic faith as taught by the hierarchy.

And here again there is work to do. The bishops need you. They need your prayer, your cooperation, your input (even constructive criticism), and your support. They are answerable to God for you. And as a Catholic, you are answerable for them, since your success as a Christian relies heavily on the bishops.

The Holy Spirit says, “Remember the end of your life, and then you will never sin” (Sir. 7:36). Because the Church exists for the forgiveness of sins, you should make regular and frequent use of the sacraments of reconciliation and reception of Eucharist. Jesus, who is judge of the living, is in a position to help you recognize the sins you commit and give you the grace to repent and seek forgiveness. If you do that, you don’t need to dread him as judge of the dead. Finally, you can use the hope of resurrection and “the life of the world to come” to overcome any discouragement you might feel about the state of the world today and your own place in it.

When all is said and done, you have one fundamental choice to make, and it is Yes or No: Do you believe what Catholics believe and what the creeds teach? If Yes, then you will do what Catholics do.

That is what the creeds are all about.

EXAMINE YOURSELVES... TEST YOURSELVES
March 1, 2020
Fr. Bosco Padamattummal

O ften, when we hear today’s readings – the Old Testament lesson about Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit (Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7) and the Gospel story of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1 -11) – we see them in opposition to one another. On the one hand, Adam and Eve got it all wrong, and on the other hand, Jesus got it all right. 

On this first Sunday of Lent I want you to find that deep thread that runs through and connects those two stories, and I think that deep connecting thread is selfknowledge.

Think about Adam and Eve. They ate the forbidden fruit. Do you remember what happens after they eat? Their eyes were opened. There’s something about eating the fruit that opened the eyes of Adam and Eve, that gave them a new awareness, that awakened them, and brought them to a new level of consciousness. They experienced something of themselves and the world in a different way. Life and their world just got a whole lot more complicated.

Think about the times in your life when that’s happened for you. There’s been a new awareness, a new awakening, a new consciousness, and you see the world and yourself in a brand-new way. With that new consciousness we might see beauty and goodness – but we also might see pain and disfigurement. We see places of wholeness and integrity – and we might see places of brokenness and disintegration. We can see that the garden experience brought Adam and Eve to self-knowledge. 

Immediately after Jesus is baptized, he goes to the wilderness, having heard that he is beloved of God. He goes to the wilderness knowing that his Father is pleased with him. And all of that is a given before Jesus ever faces the first temptation. 

Jesus’ time in the wilderness wasn’t so much about proving or giving something to God. There was something Jesus needed to learn about himself so that he could come out of the wilderness knowing who he was, knowing to whom he belonged, and knowing his message for the world. The self-knowledge Jesus gained in the wilderness formed and shaped his public ministry of healing, teaching, and preaching.

So what if during these next forty days of Lent we seek to understand “self” as one good thing we can do. I am talking about that self-knowledge that is deep and profound, that reveals our truest and most authentic self, that makes us face and examine ourselves – not to make judgments or inflict punishment but to seek healing and new life. I’m talking about the self-knowledge that turns our gaze back to God. 

If we choose the path of self-knowledge, then we’ll need to observe ourselves, be watchful, and ask difficult questions. What are the painful and wounded places in me that cause me to act out in ways that are not good for me or others? What are the “buttons” in me that get so easily pushed, that cause me to react with words or actions that I really do not want to say or do? What are the ways in which I have contributed to the pain of the world, and how might I now begin contributing to the healing of the world? In what ways have I knowingly or through fear lived a life less than who God knows me to be? When and where have I fallen short and missed the mark? What are the patterns and habits that direct and control my life? Do I truly believe I am God’s beloved son or daughter? If so, how do I live that? If not, why not? In what ways am I living an authentic life and in what ways am I not?

This self-knowledge may take us further than self-denial. That doesn’t mean self-denial is not important or that it does not have a positive and necessary role in our lives and in Lent. I just want to give self-knowledge a higher priority and put self -denial in service of self-knowledge. 

In the seminary I had a spiritual director. During my regular monthly visits to him, he would first ask, “Bosco, what are you learning about yourself?” His second question would be, “What do you need from me?”

Dear brothers and sisters, what if we let those two questions accompany us through Lent? What if we heard those questions being asked of us by God. What if we went through this season of Lent with God asking us, “What are you learning about yourself? And what do you need from me?” That just might be the start a holy Lent. It would be a Lent in which our eyes were opened to the truth about ourselves, who we are, and what we do as God’s beloved children with whom he is pleased.

WHAT THE CREED SAYS ABOUT OUR PRESENT AND OUR FUTURE
February 23, 2020
Deacon Dennis Walters

The fact that the Creed says “I believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church” seems strange, since the Church is everywhere and shouldn’t require an act of faith. But some theologians have argued that, in spite of Jesus’ mention of His Church in Matthew’s gospel, he didn’t intend to establish one. There are at least three reasons for disputing that opinion.

First, it’s counter to the whole Israelite/ Jewish mentality of a “chosen people.” They are the qahal Yahweh, the Assembly of God, as old as the twelve tribes of Israel. The story of salvation up to the time of Jesus is always the formation of a people around the twelve tribes. Jesus forms a new Israel around a core of twelve disciples. Second, from Pentecost onward, people instinctively banded together as a community under Peter and the other Eleven; the community (called an ekklesia in Greek) quickly developed a hierarchical pattern of government. Third, Jesus identified his followers with himself (“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?), and his followers saw themselves as members of Christ and of one another.

The Church is thus an extension of the Incarnation of the divine Son, Jesus Christ. It’s both an invisible and a visible reality. It’s invisible in that Jesus, ascended to the Father, is its head, and the Holy Spirit animates it. It’s visible because it’s an earthly society with a hierarchical government.

To elaborate on that, the Creed lists four “marks” — one, holy, catholic, and apostolic — to distinguish it from other groups. So: “I believe in one … church.” Jesus founded only one church. The Cath olic Church is not a denomination, it is “the Church.” Vatican II stated that “outside of [the Catholic Church’s] structure, many elements can be found of sanctification and truth” in ecclesial bodies not in communion with her. But these communions “derive their efficacy from the very fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the Catholic Church.”

“I believe in one holy … church.” The Church has been described as a “hospital for sinners” and we are well acquainted with the sinfulness of some of her members. But the Church is holy because her founder is holy, and holiness is what the Church exists to bring about. We are a communion of saints.

“I believe in one holy catholic … church.” The word catholic (small “c”) is a Greek adjective meaning “according to the whole.” Katholikos is something whole, entire, with nothing left out. The Church proclaims the whole doctrine, the entire “deposit of faith.” It’s an authentic, or true, community of faith. And it’s open to everyone in the world, regardless of rank or culture. A truly catholic Church can be recognized in those groups that have the same faith (though with some differences of emphasis), the same worship (centered on a valid Eucharist), and the same governing structure (of bishops, priests, deacons).

“I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.” The Church is apostolic because it’s founded on the apostles, whom Christ sent into the world; it teaches the same doctrine that Jesus and the apostles taught; and bishops in the line of succession from the apostles teach, govern, and sanctify the Church.

Now the Creed shifts to when “he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.” Jesus comes two times into history, the first time for the salvation of the world, and the second time for the final judgment. Likewise, there are two times for judgment, a particular judgment of each person at the moment of death, where the verdict is eternal reward or eternal punishment; and a general judgment of the nations that takes place at Jesus’ second coming, mainly so that “the sons of God” will be revealed to all. But what of the “judgment of the living”? It begins with our own moral choices and the fruit they bear, either the “works of the flesh” or the “fruit of the Spirit.” We have control over the outcome of that judgment, whether we choose the flesh (which cannot see God) or the Spirit. We should be praying for that judgment to happen now rather than after death, when it’s too late to choose.

The Creed says, “I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.” That baptism is in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; all other baptisms are invalid. As for the forgiveness of sins, it depends on our faith both in God who forgives, and in the Church which extends that forgiveness through baptism and penance.

Finally, “I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.” The Apostles Creed adds that Jesus “descended into hell” ─ that is, the abode of the dead, or Jewish Sheol ─ to “preach to the spirits in prison” — probably Purgatory. Though the Nicene Creed doesn’t mention the resurrection of the body, the Apostles Creed does. It’s a matter of faith that, as human beings, we are incomplete without the body and so will receive the body back at the final judgment. The resurrection of Jesus is the “principle and source” of our own resurrection. Our bodies will share the properties of Jesus’ glorified body. The “life of the world to come” will consist of the beatific vision, where we will “see God as he is.” It will be a dynamic life with others in the communion of saints. Above all, it will be a life of eternal discovery of the divine presence. For us, death is rather like birth, a passing from one small environment in the womb of this world into an infinitely bright and expansive new world. Next time I have an opportunity, I’ll speak of how the Creed applies to our daily lives. 
 

WHAT THE CREED SAYS ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT
February 16, 2020
Deacon Dennis Walters

The third Person of the Trinity is the Holy Spirit. But, by saying “third Person,” we don’t mean to suggest that the Spirit is lowest in rank among Persons in the Trinity or that He is least important. All Persons of the Trinity are of equal importance, since all are one God.

The Church Fathers saw the need to teach about the Holy Spirit, despite the difficulty of finding appropriate language. He has no human face as Jesus does. His name in most languages including Hebrew means “breath” or “wind,” suggesting movement of some invisible power – the English word “ghost” originally meant a blast of air. The earliest Christian creeds – including the Apostles Creed – simply mentioned the Holy Spirit with no elaboration.

But questions about the Holy Spirit kept coming up. Heretics were claiming that the Holy Spirit was not a real Person but was either an impersonal force (as in the Old Testament) or a creature (as Arius had said of the Son). So the bishops meeting at Constantinople added to the Nicene Creed a series of phrases rich in biblical allusion to clarify Christian belief.

The first phrase calls the Holy Spirit “the Lord, the giver of life.” In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit was viewed as the “breath” of God – very powerful, very active, coming from God but not God Himself. The Spirit enters into man as the breath of life, as it did for Adam. It rushes upon kings like David and prophets like Isaiah, transforming them with power. It raises dry bones to life, restoring Israel’s dead hopes after the exile and suggesting physical resurrection. At creation, the Spirit hovers over the abyss, giving shape and form to chaos. (The image suggests a bird, like the dove that brought an olive branch to Noah after the flood, or that appeared over Jesus at his baptism – hence the symbolism of the Spirit as a dove.)

The New Testament mentions the Holy Spirit more than 240 times. There, the Spirit has many of the same functions as in the Old Testament but with some significant changes. For example, the Spirit is a “He” not an “It,” a divine Person who guides, teaches mankind, bears witness, probes the human heart, and can be grieved by sin. He is a paraclete, a counselor who witnesses to the truth, and a judge who convicts the world of sin. He is an indwelling presence, inhabiting the faithful as in a temple, who prays in us, purifies us, and pours out spiritual gifts.

Second, the Holy Spirit “proceeds from the Father and the Son.” The Spirit originates from the Father just as the Son does, but the language of relationship is different. Whereas the Son is eternally begotten by the Father, the Spirit “spirates” ─ is breathed forth ─ from the Father, using the language of what we are most familiar with: the movement of air. But the overall meaning of relationship of the Spirit to the Father is the same as for the Son; only the analogy is different. The Orthodox reject the phrase “from the Father and the Son” in the Creed because it was added by the Latin Church without Eastern participation – but they do agree that the Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Son, which is essentially the same thing.

Third, the Church Fathers specified that the Holy Spirit “is adored and glorified” along with the Father and the Son. This article simply confirms the divinity of the Holy Spirit as a Person of the Trinity, consubstantial with the Father and the Son. Although the Nicene Creed doesn’t explicitly call the Holy Spirit God, it says as much by saying that Christians worship and glorify Him. As the Catechism puts it, “The One whom the Father has sent into our hearts, the Spirit of his Son, is truly God.”

Lastly, the Creed points out that the Holy Spirit “has spoken through the prophets.” The act of speaking proves the personality of the Holy Spirit, since impersonal forces don’t speak. The channel of communication is through the prophets, a group that can include all the biblical prophets, but also the whole of Scripture and Tradition. This point is foundational to everything we believe: It is because of prophecy that we know what God wants to say to us about Himself and ourselves, and how we two relate. If it were not for the Holy Spirit speaking through the prophets, our religion would be our own invention, no more true or false than any other. The fact that the Holy Spirit speaks through the prophets guarantees that our religion is true.

Which is why St. Paul lays such heavy emphasis on prophecy in 1st Corinthians: “Earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.” Prophecy doesn’t usually predict future events; typically, it speaks what God wants His people to know about His concerns for their own conduct and its consequences. “The word of the Lord” comes from God, not the prophet, and includes both the content of the word and the impetus to deliver it. The word is usually urgent, unexpected, and sometimes contrary to what the prophet would prefer to say, and it typically has meaning beyond the current situation.

Biblical prophecy is part of God’s public revelation of himself, and requires belief and a response from the entire Church. Prophecy that occurs after the apostolic age is considered private revelation, which calls for careful discernment by the Church community. St. Paul warns us not to despise prophecy, but to test it and hold on to what is good. And of course, all prophecy is to be exercised in love. What the Creed says about the Church and our hope of eternal life is the result of the Spirit’s activity, which we’ll take up next week. ✟

WHAT THE CREED SAYS ABOUT THE SON
February 9, 2020
Deacon Dennis Walters

T wo of the world’s major religions deny that Jesus of Nazareth is truly God the Son. Islam claims that it is improper for Allah to have sons. Judaism objects that there cannot be two powers in heaven. Both mistake the Church’s understanding of belief in the Son.

The article on the Son falls into two sections: a theological section and a historical one. The first presents Catholic belief about the Son’s divinity; the second his complete humanity.

The theological section starts: “I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ.” A key word here is one; it stresses the unity of God. The meaning of Lord (kyrios) differs, depending on context: it could mean simply “sir” for a landowner or family head, or a king with governing authority. Or it could refer to God, according to St. Paul: “for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” The name Jesus is important, since it states his mission and means “Yahweh saves” or “Yahweh is salvation.” The title Christ (Greek for Messiah) says that he is the Anointed successor to King David. (Judaism doesn’t hold that the messiah is divine.)

The Creed continues: “…the only begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages.” There are many meanings for the term “son of God”; for example, the whole people of God (as in “Israel is my first -born son”), a devout person, or a king. But the Creed interprets the expression literally, as Jesus did: “no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son.” Earthly fathers beget sons sexually, and sons are both younger than their fathers and are different beings. But with God, there is a kind of “generation,” a “begetting,” an eternal coming out from the Father “before all eons” ─ not a physical begetting, but a spiritual origination from all eternity. The Creed’s language is analogical and describes a relationship. We understand father-son relationships, and this is as close as human language can get to the reality of sonship inside the Trinity.

Continuing: “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father.” This is not mere repetition. A cunning philosopher could say, “I can agree that the Son is God from God and Light from light, but that’s not the same as saying he has being equal with the Father.” The language Arius used was philosophical, not biblical; so, to counter it, the Church Fathers at Nicaea used similar language to refute it. The expression “true God from true God,” emphasized that the Son is truly, wholly, completely God. In affirming that the Son is the same in being as the Father, the Creed thus uses the term homoousios, of the same nature (in Latin consubstantialis). This is the only non-biblical term in the entire Creed.

For the Church Fathers, that was the easy part. The tougher part was the section on Jesus’ humanity, because it raised all sorts of questions.

Like these: “Since matter is evil, the Son can’t be really human.” Or: “Because he’s God, his humanity is an illusion.” Or: “If he is human and perfect, he has no emotions, or at least no human soul.” Or: “If he was both divine and human, then he was both a divine person and a human person ─ two persons in one body.” In short, it was hard to see how Jesus of Nazareth could be completely God and completely man ─ both infinite and finite ─ at the same time.

In answer, the Church Fathers stuck closely to what Scripture says about the Son. First, that “For us men and for our salvation, he came down from heaven….” The Son came to liberate mankind from sin and death, to grant us eternal life with the vision of God as He is in heaven. There’s a movement of descent followed by ascent: the Son comes down from heaven and ascends back into heaven, the higher nature taking up our lower nature with it.

Second, that “by the Holy Spirit [the Son] was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became man.” THIS IS THE HIGH POINT OF THE CREED. The doctrine of Mary the Mother of God is less about Mary than about Jesus, because it affirms that Jesus, the Son, has two natures (human and divine) but only one Person, and Mary is the mother of that incarnate Person. This mystery is unique to Christianity, and so important that we genuflect or bow as we say it.

Third, that the Son “suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day.” Two objections here. One, since God cannot die, either Jesus’ divinity left his humanity at the moment of death, or Jesus didn’t die on the cross, but swooned and recovered when he was in the tomb. The Creed affirms that, historically, Jesus’ human nature really did die on the cross but that his human soul remained united to his divinity.

The other objection is that physical resurrection is impossible, so what Christians claim for it must be a spiritual event. But the evidence from Scripture is that Jesus’ resurrection was a physical, historical event. It’s important to note that resurrection is not the same as resuscitation, where an unconscious person wakes up and resumes life as before. Jesus physically rose under his own power in a glorified body, and will not die again. 1 Corinthians 15 says that belief in the resurrection is so important that if it didn’t happen the crucifixion and death of Jesus accomplishes nothing and our Christian faith is worthless.

Finally, the Creed states that the risen Jesus “ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.” All four gospels mention Jesus’ ascension and glorification. It completes the Paschal Mystery (passion, death, resurrection, ascension, all one divine, eternal event). The “right hand of the Father” is a position of power and authority from which the Son renders judgment. From here, the Creed discusses the Holy Spirit, which we will cover next week.