Truth is. Or nothing is.

Today's readings:

• Hebrews 12:1-4
• Psalm 22:26-32 (Responsorial)
• Matthew 8:17 (Alleluia)
• Mark 5:21-43

In the Douay, the RSV, or the NABRE.

Quid turbamini, et ploratis? puella non est mortua, sed dormit.
What is this stir, this weeping? The child is not dead, she is asleep.
Mark 5:39b

When I was a kid, the movie "Phantasm" was one that totally wrecked my world in the way that would give you creepy dreams and destroy decent nights of sleep. It is a very good horror film - a classic of the genre. But it has a most interesting plot twist (Spoiler Alert) in that after finding all the ways a local mortician has been making the dead into Zombies and killing everyone to sell them into slavery, the main character wakes up to discover the whole thing has been a dream, crafted in his mourning, to deny the death of his parents. (Then the movie throws another twist and everyone screams... and the credits roll.)

This is one of those things about which the Eastern Church seems to get hyper pious: "Our brother has fallen asleep in the Lord." It seems nearly like a "taboo", one of those superstitions ingrained in the culture of Russia and/or Greece that has just carried over. But it is something else, something more important. Saying "The Child is not dead, she is asleep" (as elsewhere Jesus says, "Our friend, Lazarus, sleepeth.") and this all means so much more.

St Bede the Venerable says "For to men she was dead, who were unable to raise her up; but to God she was asleep, in whose purpose both the soul was living, and the flesh was resting, to rise again. Whence it became a custom amongst Christians, that the dead, who, they doubt not, will rise again, should be said to sleep."

That is our take right now: people are dead and gone. We don't render them honors and obsequies in the way we used to because it is for us, the living, that we have funerals now. Even in some churches that should know better, we have "Celebrations of Life" and "Mass of the Resurrection".

The Christian story is so much more hopeful than that. Even in life, we are in the midst of death - the real death of sin. And yet whosoever believes in Jesus shall never die the real death - the death of the soul. We will all sleep, though.

The vision we have of reality is distorted by our emotions, warped by our sins, and, not surprisingly, twisted by our words. I say this is not surprising because God made the whole world with his word and we are made in his image. How we speak and what we say is of profound importance. I do not mean that we "make our own reality". But our heart does live in a reality created by our spiritual life - which last includes our words as well as our thoughts. So: if (in spite of our pious language) we speak as though someone were "Dead and gone" never more to be, just flat out dead - our heart grieves.

It needn't be so. We can know the life in which we stand. This is the Word of God speaking. We are in death. But Life, himself, says "this is sleep." Of another thing (speaking of the Eucharist) St Thomas has written:

Credo quidquid dixit Dei Filius;
Nil hoc verbo veritátis verius.
 - Aquinas

Translated thus:

I believe whate'er the Son of God hath told;
What the Truth hath spoken, that for truth I hold.
 - Pusey
What God’s Son has told me, take for truth I do;
Truth himself speaks truly or there’s nothing true.
 - Hopkins

I prefer Hopkins' rendering even though Pusey's sings better. I will stick with it, "Truth himself speaks truth or there’s nothing true." This line is, I think the foundation of so very much. At RCIA class last week what I heard over and over is "Why do we do it this way? Because he (Jesus) said to." It may seem a bit simplistic. It may be, in fact, too little depth for many folks. But it is the truth. It is the only reason to do something.

In a world there there no truth at all it is refreshing to do something simply out of obedience, simply because of one's choice to submit to divine authority. I've been watching a lot of my friends for the last 8 or 9 years being unable to submit to anything but their own feelings. Thus, people who support them in their feelings are "right" and people who don't support them in their feelings are "haters". This is true on all sides of the political spectrum. There are those who claim to be Christians, even, who are falling for this emotivist reading of right and wrong. They like some parts of the Bible, but not others. They like some of the things Jesus has to say, but other bits are clearly delusional.

There is only one reason to stand with the outcast: because Jesus forbade us the luxury of enemies. And either the Truth speaks the truth or nothing at all is true.

Thing is if I accept this truth claim, I've also got to accept the rest... no divorce, no adultery, no lust in my heart, and this is truly his body, this is truly his precious blood. If I pick the items from the menu that I wish to believe, then, well... I might as well just go out and yell with the others. But if not, well, then: the child is not dead, she is only asleep.

Dude, where'd ya get the fancy duds?

Today's readings:

• Hebrews 11:32-40
• Psalm 31:20-24 (Responsorial)
• Luke 7:16 (Alleluia)
• Mark 5:1-20

In the Douay, the RSV, or in the NABRE.

When they reached Jesus, they found the possessed man sitting there, clothed and restored to his wits, and they were overcome with fear.
Mark 5:15

This story is found in all three synoptics (Matthew 8 and Luke 8 as well). It was important in all the communities of the Church that gave us the inspired texts of Jesus' life. It tells the story of all of us, does it not?

Sin is the destruction of relationship. It starts with the loss of relationship with God, but in the end, abandoning all connection with others, the power of evil even destroys its own self. (For self can only exist in communion.) If our sins are lacks of charity, or lacks of chastity, lack of honesty or lack of courage, they all drive us away, eventually, from all communion, from all selfhood. It does not matter how it is set up: that's how it works. Even when we think our sins are making it easier for us to "relate" to people (drugs, sex, alcohol, etc) when we misuse the gifts God has given us we are not building, but rather tearing down.

And none of us has only one, let's be honest. One may be known as a great "Ladies' Man" or whatever term is useful for your sex and sexual preferences, but one is probably thus a liar, and prone to act uncharitably, to objectify women, to manipulate them. One may thus be ungenerous and greedy, one may be mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually abusive, one may even be a glutton and slothful. And all of these growing out of one's addiction to the hormonal rush that floods the brain at orgasm. One may be a thief and not the romantic bank-heist sort, but just the sort who plays on the internet at work: stealing time and money from one's employer. How trustworthy is that person in other areas? How duplicitous? None of this comes with a judgement: if you know me, I try only to discuss my own sins.

So we are all legion. And we are all the man possessed by Legion. And we are tormented by different voices within us, by demands that have nothing to do with "the one thing needful", and by desires that are not our own yet we are driven to fulfil. And if we come to him - even screaming and foaming at the mouth - Jesus will cast them out. I think of how many times I came to Jesus asking him to bless me in my sins, to find me a companion in my sin. One addict would love to live with another, right? But as there is no honor among thieves, so, too, other sins eventually are their own destruction.

And as in our story, the locals around us are just freaking terrified of what has happened - the swine (symbols of impurity in the Jewish world) run away, the swineherds (think teachers of heresy and impurity) run away, then the townspeople - all of whom, like all of us, have their own legions - beg Jesus to leave. Jesus is really good when he's needed for your politics. He's useful as a political punchline for both the left and the right yet please don't force his morals on me. "Go and sin no more" is a difficult commandment. And healing some sinner somewhere near me means only that I look all the worse. Jesus go away. Not only do I not want your salvation - please don't save any of my peeps.

But when they come to toss out the troublemaker, they find the guy sitting there clothed and in his right mind. That means that Jesus has put everything back in the right order which is: God first. Others. Loving God and serving others becomes my desire. When things are restored, then I am in communion with God and with others, that is, I'm finally clothed and in my right mind. I have put on the new man and have had a metanoia. But wait! There's more!

So he embarked on the boat; and as he did so the man who had been possessed was eager to go with him, but Jesus would not give him leave; Go home to thy friends, he said, and tell them all that the Lord has done for thee, and what great mercy he shewed thee.
Mark 5:18-19

We have a job to do: we cannot sit at Jesus feet forever. We cannot go with him when he leaves. I may spend 1 hour (or 16-20 hours) in church every week, but that's nothing if I'm not preaching the Gospel - spreading the kingdom. I'm not serving God if all I'm doing is feeling safe from the world. I have to go and be the hands and feet of Christ in the world. I have to be doing the Love of God, preaching the advance of his kingdom.

The Unveiling

Today's Readings:

• Zephaniah 2:3, 3:12-13
• Psalm 146:6-10 
• 1 Corinthians 1:26-31
• Matthew 5:1-12

In the Douay, the RSV, or the NABRE.

The Lord, who protects the stranger, who defends orphan and widow, who overturns the counsel of the wicked!
Psalm 145:9 (146:9 in the MT) Knox

This Psalm is sung nearly every Sunday in the Slavic recensions of the Byzantine LIturgy. (On some Sundays it is replaced with the verses sung nearly every week in the Greek form.) Today it is the Responsorial in the Novos Ordo, and we are invited, in this Psalm - as in all the readings really - to consider what this might mean, that God protects the Stranger, defends the Orphan and Widow and overturns the counsel of the wicked.

Our Bible readings are overly full of descriptions of the good folks: humble, chaste, obedient, forgiving, loving. I remember a story of two (Orthodox) nuns visiting a parish. One of the members who was very opposed to traditional monastics in the "modern" world - a situation that many Orthodox and Roman Catholic readers will recognise - decided she did not like having these "moochers" in her parish hall and so she accused them - loudly - in front of others of stealing food. "See how they 'fast' by stealing our food!" One Nun stood there, quietly taking the yelling but not at all sure what was going on. The other Nun fell at the woman's feet and begged forgiveness of whatever had happened... this totally discombobulated the accuser, who ran from the room. In the eyes of the world, the accuser was defending the parish's property. In the eyes of the world the nuns are the stupid ones.

Another story: of the president of his parish council, who walked into his church one night and found a woman praying: she was dressed traditionally, in a shawl. His own wife wouldn't stoop to such chicanery. He walked up to the woman and yanked her shawl off, grabbing her hair as well. Her head jerked back with such force that the long hairpins holding up her bun actually punctured the skin of her neck! "Now maybe you will stop dressing like a Muslim." He said. And his wife smiled as they walked away. This was in 2016. In a modern and liberal Orthodox parish in a large city the USA. And I know she prays for him. And we all should: but I can't quite figure out how though, I add in all honesty and shame.

There are humans who are working to divide other humans one from the other. Yet there is only one source of such division: the Evil One. For Christ seeks the unity of all, with all, in all, and through all with the Holy Trinity. Today's readings are all about how to get there, how to enter that Divinely-Sourced unity.

Our Bible readings are overly full of descriptions of the good, of the process of salvation. It takes humility, forgiveness, love. It takes charity, and it takes hospitality. It takes stupidity in the eyes of the world - yet wisdom in the ways of God. The poor, the foolish, the weak, no less than the rich, the intelligent, and the strong, need salvation. But knowing that you are poor - and depend on others for your bread - that you are foolish - and depend on others for guidance - that you are weak - and depend on others for protection - means that you are ready to rely on God much quicker than others who vainly imagine themselves to be "self-made". It is hard to be humble when (in the eyes of the world) you're perfect in every way.

Where are the descriptions of the wicked? What can be said of the strong nation who won't care for its weakest, who won't feed its poorest, who won't welcome the stranger, the orphan, the widow - and all for very wise, worldly reasons? Even worse: what are we to say of the Christians who won't do those things directly, even though they say it is - or perhaps especially if they say it isn't - the place of the nation to do them? A nation of Christians would surely do such, but not only would they do such through the state, they would do so by their own hands. Surely?

And what of the nation that does exactly the reverse of all the commandments and in fact hinders their performance - again, all for very worldly-wise reasons? If they are hindering the work of Christians, whose work are they advancing?  Maybe we don't really need descriptions of those things - for they are all around us.

While there are humans who are working to divide other humans one from the other, there is only one source of such division: the Evil One. Christ seeks the unity of all, with all, in all, and through all with the Holy Trinity. Yes, any can reject this unity... any can run away... but there is no other unity, there is no other peace. You can work for this unity and peace even unbeknownst to yourself, but to consciously (or unconsciously) work against it, to knowingly turn human against human, to deny the image of God present in any person for any reason is an act of desecration.

Simply: you are doing the work of demons.

No matter why you think you are doing so, that is what you are doing.

And it cannot work to your salvation in fact, quite the reverse.

Grab You Some Gumption!

Today's Readings:

• Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19
• Mark 4:35-41

In the Douay, the RSV, or the NABRE with other Mass Texts.

And he said to them: Why are you fearful? have you not faith yet? And they feared exceedingly: and they said one to another: Who is this (thinkest thou) that both wind and sea obey him?
Mark 4:40

Why are we fearful? Because these waves are higher than we are. Because the hellish winds are blowing. Because the Orange Man is scaring us. The Blue Bogie Lady is under the bed! The Evil Russians! The murderous Mohammedans! The gorgeous Gays! The pulchritudinous pink hat people... Damn, but we're a scared lot of fools ain't we?

Here's a story about my step-grandmother who lives in a very good part of town, surrounded by people in large houses and huge lawns. The last times I slept in her house (before and right after my Grandfather's death in 2002) I slept in the livingroom on the sofa and every time I came back in from smoking, as I did then, she asked me to make sure the door was locked. Because, she insisted, even in the daylight someone might come up and try the handle of the door and, were it unlocked, there is no telling what sort of havoc they might wreak. She insisted that she had heard the nob turn, softly and stealthily, from time to time, as someone unseen in the dark...

Fear. "Deilos" is the greek word here. It's not the same as the the second use of fear in this verse where the word is "Phobos". One means timidity - Strong's Greek says it means "lacking moral gumption". Give me that... Gumption. Awesome! Phobos, too, has a bad meaning, though has a good meaning as well: it's "fear of the Lord" which the Apostles show in the latter half of the verse. They stop being timid in the face of some rain and they grow some brass gumption; and then they show fear of the Lord.

Faith is not a recitation of doctrine. You cannot get faith by reciting the creed. Faith is the Essence of things Hoped for the substance of things unseen. It is the very reality our doctrine describes. So: which part of the Church's teaching don't you accept when you get all twisted with fear? If you believe that God has your life in your hands, if you believe that God is watching out for every hair on your head, every bird on the limb, every beat of the heart of the universe then... why are you fearful?

Fear makes for mountains of suckiness: why did Christians help Hitler? Because they were afraid he would beat them up if they didn't. So they helped him, and he stole their faith anyway and sent them to the camps. Why would it ever be otherwise?

Elsewhere the Bible says "perfect love casts out all fear" because the opposite of fear is not bravery, it is love. The opposite of love is not hate: it is fear. The barrier between these two - fear and love - is Courage, from the Latin "cor" meaning the heart. The opposite of courage is timidity, the lack of gumption. And I will suggest that - in the world where winds buffet the Barque of Peter, we must live our faith in love which will seem courageous in the eyes of the world - and even foolhardy.

Untimidly leaving our doors unlocked means we will let in terrorists for fear - phobos - of locking out Christ himself.

Leaving our wallets unlocked means we will give to drug addicts for fear of not giving to Christ himself.

Leaving our hearts unlocked means we might get hurt or taken advantage of for fear of not letting in Christ himself.

Listen: I know the boat is leaky. I know the winds are strong. I know the water splashes in from above even more than below. It feels to me too as if each successive wave will kill us. It seems as if even my own fellow passengers are helping the vessel to capsize.

Have you not faith yet? (Today's song comes in two flavors...)

What would it take?

Today's readings:

• Hebrews 10:32-39
• Psalm 37:3-40 (Responsorial)
• Matthew 11:25 (Alleluia)
• Mark 4:26-34

In the Douay, the RSV, or the NABRE.

Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that you may do the will of God and receive what is promised... But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and keep their souls.
Hebrews 10:35-36, 39

What will you stand? What is the last thing you are willing to give up before you give up?

Your political freedom curtailed?
Your economic freedom curtailed?
The loss of your "healthcare" rights?
The loss of your job?
The loss of your house?
The loss of your friends?
The loss of your internet access?
The loss of your credit cards?
The loss of your phone?
The loss of your stuff?
Will you sneak out to Mass if it's illegal?
Would you go to another parish if your parish became infected with Americanism?
Would you take in a priest or a nun in hiding?
Would you carry incriminating evidence? A rosary, a Bible?
Would you allow it in your house?
Could you watch your friends die?
Could you watch your family die?
Could you watch your friends apostasize?
Could you watch your family apostasize?
Could you stand to be turned in by your spouse?
Your children?
Your boss?
Would you forgive them and pray for them anyway?
Could you go without food?
Could you go without water?
Could you hide in the humid darkness in still terror while men look for you?
Could you preach in prison?
Could you witness to the truth even when people around you claiming to be Christian are worshipping the emperor?
Are you sure?
Even when you can't give up meat on Friday?
Or sit in Church longer than :55 on Sundays?
For real?

More Light!

Today's readings:

• Titus 1:1-5
• Psalm 96:1-10 (Responsorial)
• Psalm 119:105 (Alleluia)
• Mark 4:21-25

In the Douay, the RSV, or the NABRE

Alleluia: Lucerna pedibus meis verbum tuum, et lumen semitis meis.
A lamp to my feet is your word, a light to my path.

n the Hebrew and the Greek versions of the OT, the word for "word" is not the one meaning "preaching" but rather it is logos and d'var, meaning more like "thought". "The word of the Lord" is a statement about the metaphysical content rather than the literary content of the teaching. And, of course, Logos is also a title for the Second Person of the Trinity. I want to challenge us to move away from our overly-protestant yet secularized culture that focuses on text and meaning of the text and hear here a claim about Jesus, not the Bible:

A lamp to my feet is your Word.

I've been thinking, lately, about cycles. Caligula didn't pay much attention to Christians - we were a small sect. Rather nutty, we were, and we were probably scandalized by his excess. But there were not enough of us for him to pay any attention. Nero, however, had a city full of us. And he was unimpressed. Later things got better. Then things got worse, every 75 years or so. Then things got really good for a generation. Then sucky. Then it got really hard because we always had to know which emperor was a good guy, and which was a heretic. And that continued for like nearly a 1000 years! As well as annoyances from the Vikings, Vandals, Visigoths, etc.

Then the Mohammedans were killing us. And the Tartars (same thing). And then there was the Reformation or, if you will, the Deformation. And there was quite a lot of killing. And, it must be noted that politics in Russia - where there was no reformation - continued the practice of "You have to know which emperor is a good guy and which is a heretic." They are always behind the times. The English killed a lot of Christians. Oddly, claiming it was "in the name of Christ" by which they meant "Our monarch, Our money".

Then the French started to kill us. And then the Communists. And the Klan. And the Muslims again. And here we are. So: out of the last 2000 years, how long as the Church been unharried? Not a long time at all. And why are we so convinced it's over?

Yesterday I was blessed to hear the news that it is the intent of Catholic Charities of SF as well as the City of SF to ignore anti-immigrant rules initiated by the Feds. Well, cool. I hope such intent lasts. But how about you, personally? How about me? The next stage is set to be the making of a Database of all Muslim Persons? A whole lot of people (including myself) said we would register as Muslim just to gum up the works. But will we? Even if there is prison involved?

What's the right thing to do? Jesus, be the light for our feet!

I think we're coming to dark times. You know that if you've been reading my posts. I think people who are actually Christians will come under fire from people who hate Christians, but also from people who say they are Christians but are rather, as the Apostle says, "Of the Synagogue of Satan". At issue will be praying for the secular authorities - which we are commanded to do - but what if those authorities command us things contrary to the Law of God? Well, then: Christians will have trouble. But what if the alternatives offered are also contrary to the Law of God? Well, then, we'll be up a creek.

We now live in yet another era when realpolitik trumps religious faith so often, we think "just doing a little evil for greater good is ok..." Paul says no, that's not the case at all. Christ is the King - full stop. This is why, I think, in an era of Nero, Caligula, and other such awesome rulers, St Paul said things like today: "I'm a slave of God". And (in the alternative first reading for today, from 1 Timothy) "So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord" Jesus says, "Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket or under a bed, and not to be placed on a lampstand?"

Who is the heretic and who is the good guy? Jesus, light our way! We have to let our light shine so that they will more-easily see where our heads are for chopping...

Plenty of Room

Today's readings:

• Hebrews 10:1-10
• Psalm 40:2-11 (Responsorial)
• Matthew 11:25 (Alleluia)
• Mark 3:31-35

In the Douay, the RSV, or the NABRE.

Then Jesus looked about at those who were sitting around him, and said, Here are my mother and my brethren! If anyone does the will of God, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.
Mark 3:34-35 (Knox)

When I was a freshman in college, in the Spring of 1983, I went on an Episcopal Regional Youth retreat (Region II was, then anyway, all of NY and NJ plus Haiti), led by the woman who would (later) be a prominent seminary professor and other things to other people. She's a teacher through and through: engaging and engaged and loving in delivery. On her first night she spoke on this passage, a talk she called "Family in the New Creation" and it was (and still is) a bit of a shaker for me: a formative moment. It become a touchstone of my  understanding of self. Perhaps not surprisingly, given the source, it's not very (o)rthodox. It's certainly not (O)rthodox. Yet, in today's Protestant world, it would seem trite, conservative even. It would also seem that way in today's moral climate, I think.

I won't trouble you with some of the more scandalous stuff, although you can fill in the gaps if you know me well enough. There are two points I still find important: one gets two thumbs up and one gets one thumb down and one thumb up. Since the latter is, in fact, the foundation of the whole thing I'll do it first:

Her main point was in this passage Jesus is dissing his biological family for a different understanding of family - one that is now our only concern - this "Family of the New Creation." She worked really hard at explaining this to us - the whole rest of the talk was bulletpoints about what the Old Creation Family looked like versus the New Creation Family. And: I agree about 50% with this claim. Jesus was making a claim about what family is to become in his Church. Yet he was not dissing his biological family to do it - at least not enough that we can say, "Ah ,forget about that old fashioned stuff."

Jesus wasn't destroying the old family: he was expanding it.

Which brings me to her second point (two thumbs up): Jesus and St Paul would not have understood our concept of the "Nuclear Family". Then she added (verbatim): "Nuclear family. Nuclear arms. As far as I'm concerned they're both just as deadly."

According to Byzantine and Latin tradition, the Holy Family of Nazareth was what we would call, today, a Blended Family. Joseph was a widower, he had sons and daughters already - many of whom figure into the Gospel and Apostolic storylines. James, at least, was old enough at Jesus' birth, to be thinking of marriage. Mary may have come into Joseph's house with her elderly mother, Anna. This is the family Jesus knew from his earliest age. When Joseph died, James would have become head of the house, and Mary the Matriarch. It's quite different from "Mom, Dad, Buddy, and Sis" aka Ward and June Cleaver.  It's more like the way the Bunkers got in later years - when the kids lived next door, with the baby, or like the Waltons. The Jews were Tribal: even in Jesus' day, the concept of an entire town of family (Bethlehem, or Nazareth) was not alien.

For us, today, with our Nuclear (or, Nukuler) families, our limited scope... even this tribal idea must seem exotic. But Jesus expanded it to include the entire Church. When we say "brother" and "sister" here, it's not just warm fuzzies. It's meant to be a truth. The Body of Christ is the Quantum Family. Yet it is hard for us today to find our communities in the Church: we have our kids' school obligations, and our work functions. We have political things, perhaps, or neighborhood social drives. Thing is, at one time, all of these were Church. The Community was the Church: the Church was the Community.

When I dream of community it looks like, at least, Jesus' family which he has opened up to include all of us. My family had five generations of sisters, brothers, spouses, children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, cousins and so on, all in one small town in upstate New York. There's a way to feel safe! Thing was: we were not the only family to be that way in that town. Nor are we now - but I'm not there (nor my parents). That's what's so strange about today's world: we are all spaced out, all over the world. Many of the Orthodox and Catholic folks I know live nowhere near their families (who may or may not be in the same faith).

So how do we recover this sense of all-in? There are places that do this, there are Orthodox and Catholic urban communities forming in places (Alaska, Oklahoma, Kansas, Toronto), places where people come together either in common housing or, at least, common neighborhoods. How are we to make this present now? I fear it becomes harder and harder, and, at the same time, more and more important.

Today is the Feast of St Francis de Sales. St Francis has become important to me, in learning about daily meditation in the Roman Catholic tradition.  I'm no where near acquainted with him enough to say anything in depth about him: but practice make perfect. I will end this post with a motto of his - which is, I think, the source of any real community, so it is also a prayer:

Live Jesus!