Monthly Archives: April 2020

Moral Response

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We, His creation are intuitively curious. It’s not enough we ask questions, we see the necessity of adding, “what if” to the answer. It’s not enough we find the foundation; we look for what the foundation is built on. Our life is a vision of voyage. The destination of this vision is experience, the destination of this experience is life, and so it goes on and on through familiar terrain and on uncharted waters. So, what should be our response to the worldwide pandemic? Let’s listen to the wisdom of our hearts which tells us, the greatest gift is creation, without it there is nothing at all. Each of us is unique in body and soul. The body’s greatest gift is the soul. It is ours to nourish and protect as we navigate this world of strife and temptation.Our connection to the divine is the triune body: the mother, the father and the kiss of the Holy Spirit which is our soul at the moment of conception, and the reflection of the triune God. By His authority we are the stewards in His creation.   

Every major religion which has become sustainable through the ages believes in the sacredness of human life. The government will never be the source of the best decision to be made for an individual. Governments are created out of empire building; the best decisions are made for the salvation of souls. So, our response to this pandemic is to save our souls by saving theirs. We will do whatever it takes to protect the sanctity of human life. The young and the old, the healthy and the infirmed, the righteous and short sighted, the greatest among us and the inconsequential are all called to the banquet at His table, all called to be stewards in His creation. Our physical world is a complex arrangement of priorities; we look to our governments to turn this complexity into process. When this process is centered on the individual we find success and harmony, when it’s not we find deceit and devastation. As world citizens and practicing Christians we will walk the thin line between what is right thinking and what is not, what is allowable and what isn’t, what is sustainable and what ends in tragedy. In these troubled times, we shouldn’t look at reasonable steps to take, we should look at responsible steps which will be taken; we shouldn’t look at what we have done, we should look at what He has done for us.

God Is Absolute Fr. Albert’s Homily

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God is Absolute, which points to the greatest paradox of all; He is both infinite and finite. Infinite, in terms of God is the sum of infinity, again another paradox, one that is true, because there is nothing greater than God, and there is no situation in which there is God and something more. Finite, because as in any absolute there must be limitations, because if it is absolute it can’t be something else, again another paradox and necessarily so. It’s important that both aspects of God, the infinite and finite be paradoxical, because both describe a condition which cannot be, but is. Now, we see on closer examination, that when two elements in the same thought or sentence are contradictory yet true, this is when paradox becomes analogy. G.K. Chesterton said, “Paradox is the truth standing on its head to get attention.”  I am saying this in response to your homily concerning summoning God’s forgiveness at the time of confession.

On one hand, you are categorically correct, no one can invoke or provoke God into doing anything. On the other hand, you are correct again, because you as a priest do give His blessings at the time of confession. This make sense, that you can give something from God, when we just established you can’t invoke anything from Him, if we agree that God is absolute. Consider this: by His word, He made what is. He said it would be and it is. So, when Jesus proclaimed by His word, by His oath (as in Matthew 18: 15-20), He established a covenant definitive in its manifestation and infinite in its mercy. If this points to the truth, and I think it does, then what follows are limitations God places on Himself, by His manifestation in this distinctive reality which He created. Let’s consider several conditions: God cannot create a God greater than Himself, if He could He wouldn’t be God. God cannot be evil; evil is the absence of God. God cannot sin. Jesus in His worldly realm did not sin. In His human condition He certainly chose not to sin. However, in His divine nature He could not sin. God cannot punish. He can heal, He can cure, He can re-align, He can rehabilitate, He can discipline, and He can put us through therapy however none of this is punishment. Our worldly father sent us to our room for what we did, our Heavenly Father sends us to our room for what we will become. God cannot lie. There are no circumstances, no contingencies in which God would misdirect or misinform us for our own good.

Perhaps most importantly is the reality of this distinctive creation of His. Understanding He is the author who gave each created character the freedom to write their own script. This binds each of us to a covenant relationship with the Triune God we call God. In the beginning, Adam and Eve had the choice to be obedient to God’s parameter or write their own script. They put themselves ahead of God and made the wrong choice. I know God pleaded and prayed to them, spoke in the tender voice of a loving Father; please don’t do this, think what you are doing and realize the grave mistake you are making. They heard but weren’t really listening, they did it anyway. In the beginning, God spoke to Abraham, He pleaded and prayed to him, don’t take Hagar as your own, trust in My power and purpose. Abraham heard, but wasn’t really listening, he made the wrong choice and did it anyway. The Lord in His loving generosity gave us the power to create, the free will to choose to surrender to His loving embrace or write our own script. Jesus’ promise is to give us anything we wish as long as it is in accordance with His will. God’s prayers for us will never be stronger than our free will, His love is our gift, ours to receive and accept or write our own script.    

Mercy, understanding and unconditional love demand honesty and sincerity. All of God’s commandments are possibilities. All of God’s promises are true. God is Absolute, He cannot be anything other than God. God did create a world where great tragedies both natural and manmade can and have occurred. Why He did this is another discussion, how He intervenes during these times is His decision for His purpose and plan. 

Grace of Faith

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I believe we all wrestle with some confusion and misunderstanding concerning the nature of God. We struggle with God’s nature and God as “being” itself. God as “being” itself can be seen as outside our space and time. God is the singularity, which can best be described as Love, which never changes; God is the uncreated creator; Jesus the uncreated created and the Holy Spirit the created uncreated. This paradox of God seen through the Trinity also points to the paradox of singularity as well. God’s love is His mercy and His grace; His providence is His compassion as well as His kindness, guidance, power and purpose. With God there is no separation, nothing in Him stands between Him.

So, what is so difficult about the nature of God, since we just described His singularity as well as from our point of view His attributes? I think in order to make a complex idea seem more understandable; we project our worldliness onto His holiness. Jesus teaches this in Matthew 16:23, as he tells Peter, “You are a stumbling block to Me, for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.” Perhaps there are many ways to interpret this passage, however, it seems to me, Jesus is saying, you are thinking as a man would think not as God thinks. We often hear Jesus saying He has come to fulfill the law, in many cases this means, He is bringing the Word forward as in Isaiah 55:9, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

I am suggesting we a adopt a world view based on the foundation that the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament are one in the same. In the lowest common denominator, the Truth is simply what is. When we hold on to the idea of God as singularity, then His love is the Truth. This leads me to the conclusion that there can only be one worldly Truth as well, the same Truth whether seen through the lenses of theology, philosophy, science or psychology. So, why the apparent stark difference between the God of Old and New Testament; why the world view of truths in every discipline? It seems to me the real question lies in the answer. There is no difference between the God of Old and the God in the New Testament and there cannot be different truths in each discipline. So, how are the people in Old Testament times different from the people living today?

It is not my intention that this portion of the essay be comprehensive, thorough or exhausting. I would like it to stand as a reminder of the presence of the Holy Spirit, and the idea that we live in a cause and effect world; a world of observations and conclusions which we sometimes mistake as truths. I believe we were endowed with the Holy Spirit at the moment our God, the Father Almighty, breathed life into Adam. I also believe in olden times the Holy Spirit’s presence was unusual and infrequent. Certainly, the Holy Spirit spoke to the Prophets and mystics had visions, however, they like all of us are locked into their era and limited by their own frames of reference. I have often prayed that the Lord would teach me what I can understand, rather than ask for greatness beyond what my mind could comprehend. We also see in the Old Testament and in the New Testament as well, Job’s friends asking what he had done to deserve these trials, and the Apostles asking Jesus whether the man born blind had sinned, or whether his parents were to blame for his blindness. 

One more thought, the emphasis of the New Testament seems to be on separation. The vertical separation between God our Father and we His people. Perhaps more importantly, the separation we make ourselves, about ourselves. At times, we struggle to understand the difference between our “self” and our “being”.  Our “self” is the person we have come to be in this  world and our “being” is the person we were made to be in His image and likeness. Finally, we see the relationship as well as the linear interaction as we strive through our self-control and perseverance to reach a more righteous frame of reference. Applying this newfound foundation, we look at the world, as Peter teaches in 2 Peter 1: 5-8, “with brotherly kindness.” This reflects back to God our Father as we receive and accept His love, as well as our loving Him. It is this interchange which demonstrates the separation as well as bonds the unity. It also points to the contrast of how we treat our brother with our limited humanity, and how God treats us through His infinite love. Doesn’t it seem to you that the Golden Rule actually means, treat others as God would treat them, not as you would like to be treated or how you are capable of treating others.

Now, the conclusion I am drawing does not hinge so much on how, why and when God reveals himself to us as much as what we gleam from these glimpses. As long as we see the world in terms of cause and effect, the longer we remain locked in this worldly frame of reference. However, when we realize our worldliness does not lead to His holiness; His holiness leads us to our holiness, this changes our world view. Now we begin to see that God uses everything that happens for a greater good. This realization changes our disposition. We see the Grace of the Holy Spirit through our Baptism, the washing away of Original Sin, the teachings of Christ Jesus and two thousand years of discernment as seen through the Catholic Church. This brings us streaming into the twenty first century and a step away from the first century Christians.