Phil Robertson >>>

"We all go six feet deep in the ground. The grave is a problem. So is sin. Jesus came down in the flesh and solved both of them. So for me, my household, I just think that (ah) we'd all be better off if we loved God and loved each other. At the end of the day, you will be happy, happy, happy." [West Monroe, LA 2013]

Heaven Is Very Close to Us >>>

God says, “Behold, I make all things new.”  [Rev 21:5]  Our true destiny is life, eternal life, and our God is a God of the living. In this life, we pray:

TO HAVE the eyes of our hearts enlightened, that we may know what is the hope to which Christ has called us, to know the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints. [Eph 1:18] 

I believe anyone who is spiritually perceptive, who realizes that there are other ways to see than by mere human eyesight, understands that angels and saints of heaven can see everything in heaven and on earth as God wills. They may see everything in the worlds of time and eternity because they are perfect.

The heavenly angels and saints are not in a “happy hunting ground” or “round-up corral” somewhere. They are much, much closer to us than we can imagine. The angels and saints and all of heaven, in truth, are as near as one’s outstretched hand. We mortals typically cannot see heaven. Our eyes of faith are weak, and we are not yet perfect:

EYE HAS not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it yet dawned on man what God has in store for those who love him.  [1Cor 2:9]  

Surely miracles are not thrown down to us here on earth from way up “there”. We speak of miracles which have the power to change who we are, what we do, and who we are meant to become. When God permits us to see great and beautiful things—even for a moment—we never forget. We are humbled to be so privileged. We want to share the “Good News” of our miraculous experience and awareness of God.

We want to hold on to the miracle in our lives—we don’t want to let go. In an instant, we comprehend how our world is so flawed and broken by sin and rebellion, and how very much we need God. I believe the great miracle is not so much the wonderful and miraculous “thing” that appears to our eyes to be unique and unrepeatable.

Saying "Yes" to God - Part 3 of 3

The test of faith infers a leap into the “hands of the living God”.  [Heb 10:31]  Pope Saint John Paul II expressed this thought sublimely when he wrote, “Allow (your) spirit to be overturned in order to make it turn towards God.”  [Reconciliatio et Paenitentia, no. 26 (1984)]  

Faith leads me to know “that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear”.  [Heb 11:3]  By faith, I reach for “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen”.  [Heb 11:1]  By faith, I accept citizenship in “a better country, that is, a heavenly one”.  [Heb 11:16]  By faith, I discern that the “goods” of the natural world are not good enough to effect my salvation.

Should I stubbornly withhold my assent to faith until the end, starving my unfortunate soul with a catalog of excuses and complaints longer than Les Misérables, I will deserve my eternal death for this pathetic reason, if no for none other:  The rebellious mind is always opposed to the “mind of Christ”.  [1Cor 2:16]  I may choose either rebellion or the peace of Christ but not both. And decide I must. If I choose the mind of Christ, it must increase. Anything else is a portal to selfishness and materialism, an intuition of death, and hence must decrease.

Therefore, the virtue of temperance involves a resounding yes as well as a powerful no. Keeping in mind the cautionary story of Adam and Eve, God calls me to say yes to the good that he wants. I am to say no to disobeying God and no to the good things and good people of this world that God does not will me to possess!  

"FOR OUR business is not to live many years, and to become learned, or to make a name in the world, but to walk to God, to get near to Him, to unite ourselves to Him . . . .

"LET US have a full realization of the drama which is being enacted, and in which we have to play our part. This drama fills all time and all space. It began, with the very beginning of things, in the angelic world, by an act of disobedience. This brought another in its train here below, one which has been repaired by the obedience of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

"ALL INTELLIGENT beings are ranged in two camps, those who obey and those who obey not; and the struggle of the two forces knows no truce. Each has its king, and he who claims to withdraw himself from obedience passes by this very fact under the domination of the other King. God for god, I prefer my own." (2)

The only way I may know the good that God wants for me is to pray and wait in silence for his salvation: “For we walk by faith,and not by sight”.  [2Cor 5:7]  Every human story reveals a longing to recover what was lost by Adam and Eve’s tragic immoderation. Like Adam and Eve in happier days, the human soul longs to walk with God in the cool of the evening breeze.  [cf. Gen 3:8]  

It is sanctifying grace alone that sustains my fundamental orientation to God and empowers my human will to collaborate with God for the sake of my own salvation. The grace-filled virtue of temperance empowers me to say amen decisively to God and the good that he wants, to keep his commandments, turning neither to the left or the right. Hence, God’s own glory illumines my path to him, purifying my unworthy soul by degrees “for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit”.  [1Cor 3:17-18]  

_______________________________

(1)  “Instinctively”, a word suggesting how deeply 1.) the primordial fall has permeated the souls of all the living, and 2.) the human soul longs to be reconciled and made holy

(2)  [COMMENTARY ON THE RULE OF ST BENEDICT Prologue by Dom Paul Delatte, Trans. Dom Justin McCann. London:  Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd (1921) pp 3,5]  Dom Delatte, Order of St. Benedict, was third abbot of the Abbey of Saint-Pierre de Solesme and Superior General of the Congregation of Benedictines of France. The COMMENTARY was composed in 1913.

Saying "Yes" to God - Part 2 of 3

Whatever we may say about the problem of Adam, in some primordial sense he prefigured the priesthood of Christ as mediator between God and all the living. Because of his pastoral failure, therefore, Adam’s sin was the more abhorrent. Undeniably Eve inflicted a grievous wound to humanity. Adam, however, struck humanity’s death blow. His action was catastrophic, fatal and impossible to overcome.

Every human being from the age of reason upward has some intuition of death, if for no other reason than the experience of sin. Sin is death’s shill. I well know my human nature left to itself is mortally flawed, predisposing me to commit evil against God, myself and others.

When I sin, I invariably dismiss as irrelevant my bias toward self-interest. Moreover, I instinctively (1) appeal to some good to whitewash my sins, and worse, I grant myself immunity because I classify my sins as negligible when compared to grave moral and material crimes like, well . . . torture and genocide. I want to frolic and play with sins as if I were a child toying with fire until the day of catastrophe.

When will I stop hemorrhaging invaluable time and energy to legitimize my sins? How much longer will I shun the light and easy yoke  [cf. Mt 11:30]  of the Lord’s own sacrament? So many medications, injections, treatments, therapies, spas and gyms for the sake of mortal flesh that is as good as dead . . . and nothing, nothing for my immortal soul that languishes like a prisoner within! And who is my enemy? The Lord’s sacrament? The Lord’s priest? The kneeler? Or is the enemy myself! “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”  [Rom 7:24]  

A habit of informed restraint contributes to the orderly lives of all men and women of good will. Unless it takes on a supernatural character and becomes a virtue, however, it remains ultimately palliative. Nothing less than the restorative is needed for the bewildered exhausted soul in the face of evil’s implacable assault. My soul needs a decisive intervention, a rescue as it were from a house on fire. It needs a trustworthy remedy if it’s going to be restored to full health. How can my soul take supernatural nourishment? What is the leaven that will make my soul rise?

To break the increasing power of sin and death strangling me in this present life, I must bend the knee  [cf. Phi 2:10]  before Jesus Christ, call on his name and receive the Spirit of Life. I must drink of the divine grace poured out for me by the Most Holy Trinity. I must take as my food the will of God. I must cooperate with the Divine Physician whom he sent to accomplish his Father’s works.  [cf. Jn 4:34]  Unless I change my thinking and my life for the better, my hope has no proper object.

I’ve heard that some persons lack the gift of faith. I’m not sure what this means but surmise that it refers to a soul who withholds faith, a soul for whom assent to God is perceived as a threat to both one’s identity and humanity. Some apprehension is understandable at the beginning of one’s journey to God. Does surrender to God mean I forfeit who I am? Will I lose my friends? Who might control me? What do I have to reveal? and so forth. Whom or what will I trust?

Saying "Yes" to God - Part 1 of 3

The lives of Adam and Eve were sustained in virtuous conduct by God who granted them a share of his divine life. This share was sanctifying grace, the procession of a two-fold gift from God:  “original holiness” and a participation in the mystery of the Holy Trinity.  [CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH (CCC) 375]

The Genesis account discloses that Adam and Eve possessed the fullness of intellect and reason. Both enjoyed free will and the liberty to act rightly or wrongly. Having no experience of trial or hardship, they accepted God’s friendship and trusted his divine commands from the start—Do this, don’t do that. Throughout the age of innocence, the length of which is unknown,  the intellect and will of the first human beings mirrored the divine goodness in whose image and likeness they were created.  [cf. Gen 1:26]  

Adam, searching for a help-mate, rightly rejected all birds, beasts and fishes as unsuitable. By saying yes to intimacy with Eve, “bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” [Gen 2:23], he cooperated with God’s plan for human well-being. By saying no to the primary companionship of non-human creatures, he honored God in whose image and likeness he was created.

Eve who enjoyed good things to eat knew well what God commanded her and Adam: “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.” [Gen 3:3]  Tempted by the serpent (devil), she touched and ate fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Obsessed by self-interest, Eve convinced Adam to make her strikingly outrageous act of apostasy against God complete. Thus the age of innocence vanished, and their idolatrous hearts convulsed with anguish and dread.

Eve rejected the God of creation and gravely wounded her relationship with Adam. The wretched Adam validated his companion’s sin by doubly failing in his duty. He neither corrected Eve nor interceded prayerfully on her behalf in God’s presence. One may speculate as to the narrative’s outcome if Adam refused to conspire with Eve, seeking instead divine pardon for her and healing for the wounded creation. In the face of this generation’s incalculable human suffering, to be sure, such speculation is feckless and irresponsible.

Saying yes to lust and greed demands a corresponding no to the primacy of truth. Both grasped for equality with God and the sham promise of undeserved self-generated immortality. They decisively rejected God who alone names what is good and what is evil. Having cooperated with the serpent’s sinister attack on the dignity of their own personhood, God expelled the two offenders from Eden.

Tragically, humanity fell with Adam and Eve into perpetual suffering and death, losing all memory of intimacy with God. Many aspects of the Genesis story always will be debated, but perhaps common agreement could be expected on this point: The human response to faith is always personal, far-reaching and involves other persons. (To be continued ... )

Wrapping a Gift

When I preach at Mass what I’m really doing is wrapping a gift. The gift is the gospel. The homily is the wrapping. I don’t make or buy the gift or keep it for myself, but I try to present the gift in a pleasing way. The wrapping is not more important than the gift.

The gospel always outshines the homilist and his own thoughts. I present the gospel to you as Christ graciously directs me. His gift is the truth. The giver and the gift are the same. The response of a longing heart to the good news of Jesus Christ is a joyous moment. The one who trimmed the gift must stand aside.