From WCU: Gospel For Today

SOLEMNITY OF CHRIST THE KING (B)

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Today we celebrate the end of the Church's liturgical year, the last Sunday before we enter the Advent season, and the start of a new year for the Church.  The readings last Sunday focused on Christ's return at the end of time; as we move into Advent the readings will continue to look forward to Christ's second coming for a couple of weeks until we shift gears and begin to look back to His first coming as a babe in Bethlehem, in anticipation of the Christmas celebration.  But regardless of whether we are speaking of His coming at the end of time, or his coming as a newborn in a manger, we speak of his arrival as that of a King.  And so it is fitting, as we cap off the liturgical cycle, to have one final, grand celebration of Jesus Christ, the King of the Universe.

However, this is not some ancient feast, first celebrated 1600 years ago in Antioch or Ephesus.  Christ the King is actually a very modern celebration, first being instituted in 1925 by Pope Pius XI.  He did so as a way of combating secularism.  Secularism is essentially living your life as if Christ did not matter.  Pope Pius XI wanted to remind us that Christ absolutely did matter -- not just when we attend Mass on Sunday, but every day, every hour of our lives, in every aspect of our lives.  Christ is King of the Universe -- all space and time, in all its aspects.

Today's celebration is meant to remind us of certain things.  First, Christ is the creator of the universe.  All things were made by Him, and so all things belong to Him.  Second, that Christ is our redeemer and has purchased us with His very Body and Blood.  We belong to Him.  Third, He is head of the Church.  And lastly, that God has bestowed upon Christ all the nations on earth; all are in His care.  In other words, there is no limit, either in time nor space, to Christ's sovereignty.  "I am the Alpha and the Omega" says the Lord.  The beginning and the end.  

We should not think of Christ as being like earthly rulers -- the royalty and politicians that we know and see on the news.  Rather, our worldly leaders should try to be like Him in their leadership.  Our earthly kings resemble Christ in their kingship in the same was that the artist resembles God in His creating power.  The artist creates, and in doing so shares in some small way a character of God the Creator.  But the painting, sculpture, or poem is a small, dim reflection of the glory of Creation itself.  And so our worldly leaders, at their best, are still dim reflections of the benevolent and eternal kingship of Jesus Christ.

Jesus exercises His kingship with the heart of a shepherd.  While the readings at today's Mass speak of glory and power and dominion (and rightly so), the prayers offered in the Liturgy of the Hours show us what kind of King we have in Christ.  The intercessory prayers from the morning office begin, "Christ, you are our savior and our God, our shepherd and our king, lead your people to life-giving pastures."  And they continue, "Good Shepherd, you laid down your life for your sheep, rule over us, and in your care we shall want for nothing."

Christ is a majestic King, ruling over the cosmos from all eternity.  He is also a shepherd who does not want even one lamb to go astray.  Today we should rejoice, for we have such a powerful and loving Lord.

-----

The Church gives us an opportunity this day to gain a plenary indulgence -- that is, a remission before God of all the temporal punishment due for sin which has already been forgiven (when our sins are forgiven in the sacrament of Confession, the eternal punishment for those sins is remitted, but there may be temporal punishment still due us.  It is this temporal punishment that is paid in purgatory).  To gain a plenary indulgence, one must be in a state of grace, have recently gone to confession, receive the Eucharist, and pray for the intention of the Pope.  These things are generally done on the same day as the indulgenced act, but can be done "within several days" (according to Canon Law).  To gain the indulgence today, the Church asks us to make a public recitation of this prayer.

Most sweet Jesus, Redeemer of the human race, look down upon us humbly prostrate before you. We are yours, and yours we wish to be; but to be more surely united with you, behold each one of us freely consecrates himself today to your Most Sacred Heart. Many indeed have never known you; many, too, despising your precepts, have rejected you. Have mercy on them all, most merciful Jesus, and draw them to your Sacred Heart. Be King, O Lord, not only of the faithful who have never forsaken you, but also of the prodigal children who have abandoned you; grant that they may quickly return to their Father's house, lest they die of wretchedness and hunger. Be King of those who are deceived by erroneous opinions, or whom discord keeps aloof, and call them back to the harbor of truth and the unity of faith, so that soon there may be but one flock and one Shepherd. Grant, O Lord, to your Church assurance of freedom and immunity from harm; give tranquility of order to all nations; make the earth resound from pole to pole with one cry: Praise to the divine Heart that wrought our salvation; to it be glory and honor for ever. Amen.

--

WCU Catholic Campus Ministry

Matthew Newsome, MTh, campus minister

www.WCUCatholic.org

  

(828)293-9374  |   POB 2766, Cullowhee NC 28723

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From WCU: Weekly Update from CCM

Dear Students,

Have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving break! 

Thanksgiving is an American holiday, not a Catholic holiday, but it still is a holiday deep with religious significance.  Many people assume the first Thanksgiving was celebrated at the Plymouth settlement in November of 1621.  It was then, to mark the first anniversary of the their arrival, that Governor William Bradford declared a day of prayer thanksgiving to God for their survival.  The sixty pilgrims were joined by ninety or so Native Americans, and after that, the custom of celebrating a day of Thanksgiving spread to other colonies in the New World.

After the Revolutionary War, President Washington declared that November 26, 1789, be "a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and sole favors of Almighty God."  But it did not become a national holiday until 1863 when Lincoln declared that the last Thursday in November be celebrated each year "as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father."

So, in its origins, Thanksgiving is a holiday established in our country not just as an occasion to "give thanks" in a generic sort of way, but specifically to give thanks to God for all the blessings we have in our lives.  

This thought is very much in keeping with Catholic tradition.  Our principle feast, the Sacrament we celebrate each day in Catholic churches across the world, and which faithful Catholics are obliged to participate in each Sunday, is the Eucharist.  That word -- eucharist -- comes from the Greek meaning, "to give thanks."  

When Christ instituted the Sacrament of His Body and Blood, he did so by taking bread and wine, blessing it, and offering thanks to the Father.  He instructs us to do the same, in memory of Him.  With this Sacrament, we are forever linked to the sacrifice Christ made for us on the cross at Calvary.  Forever more, from that point on, animal sacrifices would no longer be offered in an attempt to make reparations to God for our sins.  The bloody sacrifices of old represented a people trying their best to say, "I'm sorry" for their failings and imperfections, their evils and wrong doings.  But no amount of sacrifice on their part could make up for the distance between our sinfulness and God's holiness.

Only God could bridge that gap, and He did exactly that through the perfect sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ.  Now, when we participate in the sacrifice of the Mass, we do so with a spirit of eucharist.  We do so with a spirit of thanksgiving.  

This Thursday, wherever you are, whether you are gathered around a table with family, enjoying a delicious feast, or sitting alone eating a more humble meal, don't forget to offer a prayer to your Heavenly Father in gratitude for all the many blessings in your life; especially the greatest blessing of all, the gift of His Son, our Savior.  Don't forget to say, "Thank you, Father."

God bless,

Matt

--

WCU Catholic Campus Ministry

Matthew Newsome, MTh, campus minister

www.WCUCatholic.org

  

(828)293-9374  |   POB 2766, Cullowhee NC 28723

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From WCU: Gospel For Today

THIRTY-THIRD SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME (B)

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I'm sure you've seen the cartoons of the old man walking through the city streets holding a sign saying, "The End is Near!"  No one takes him seriously.  But that's what Jesus tells us in today's Gospel reading.  He speaks of the "days [of] tribulation" and the sun being darkened, the stars falling from the sky, and the Son of Man coming in the clouds to gather up the elect from the ends of the earth.  The End Times.

It sounds like a Hal Lindsay book (or a Kirk Cameron movie), doesn't it?  Our Evangelical and Fundamentalist brothers and sisters tend to be a bit more concerned with the end of the world and the Second Coming of Christ than Catholics typically are.  But each year at this time, as we approach the end of the liturgical year, our readings start to focus more on the end of all things.  

We are preparing the Advent, which will start in two weeks, after the final great celebration of Ordinary Time, next Sunday's feast of Christ the King.  The word advent comes to us from the Latin for "coming," and it refers not only to Christ's first coming as a newborn baby at Christmas, but also to his second coming in glory at the end of time.  Like the first Christians who believed Christ would return during their lifetimes, we continue to look forward to the second coming of Christ to this day.

We live in an area surrounded by Protestant Christians, many of whom have rather different understandings about the end of time than the Catholic Church has traditionally held.  Many of you have no doubt heard of "the Rapture," an event in which all the faithful Christians will supposedly be taken up into the sky to meet with Christ, after which they will be removed from the earth while the period of tribulation takes place -- a horrible time of trials and testing, giving sinners one last opportunity to repent before the end of time.  

We hear about this from many of our Protestant friends, but we don't hear about it at all from our Catholic pastors.  Why is that?  Well, there is a good reason.  It's not what the Church believes about the Second Coming.  Truth be told, it's not what most Protestants believe, either.  The idea of a pre-tribulation rapture was unheard of in Christianity until the 1800s, when it was formulated by a man named John Nelson Darby, an early leader of the Fundamentalist movement.  

Darby is the father of what is known as Dispensational theology.  Darby's theology was picked up by a man named Scofield who published Darby's view in his Scofield Reference Bible, which was sold widely across America and England.  And so Darby's view of the Rapture became more widely held, especially among Fundamentalist and Evangelical Protestants; it has even found its way into more mainstream Protestant circles.  But it is utterly foreign to Catholicism.

If you'd like to read a bit more on different Christian's views on the Rapture and the End Times, and what the Catholic Church teaches about them, I refer you to this brief article by Catholic Answers.

http://www.catholic.com/tracts/the-rapture

So what do Catholics believe about the end of the world?  Most importantly, we believe that it will happen.  Not just an end to our little planet Earth, but an end of all things, of all time.  We live in a finite universe.  All of creation had a beginning, and it will have an end.  Our story will come to a close.

We do believe that Christ will come again, as we pray each time we recite the Nicene or Apostle's Creed.  We believe that the Second Coming will occur at the end of time (not at the beginning of some thousand-year earthly reign of peace here on earth).  And we believe in the general resurrection -- that is, at the end of time all the dead will be raised from the earth.  The righteous will be gathered together with Christ, while the unrighteous... not so much.  

As the first reading today from Daniel attests, "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake; some shall live forever, others shall be an everlasting horror and disgrace."

And most importantly, we don't pretend to know precisely when this will take place. We don't comb through books like Daniel and Revelation, looking for some secret code or formula that will tell us the precise day and hour of the Second Coming.  If you see or hear of anyone doing this, don't give him the time of day.  For Christ himself has said, "But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" (Mk 13:32).

But that day is coming.  Of that we can be sure.  And whether the end of time will be tomorrow or billions of years from now, we each will face our own "end time" in our lives comparatively soon.  Any of us could die this hour, or eighty years from now.  But we will die, and we will face our own judgment, in anticipation of the final judgment to come.  

Are you prepared for that this day?  This is the message for us as the Church year draws to a close, as we think of the end of all times, and look forward to the advent, to the coming of our Lord in glory.  May we be among those standing ready to welcome Him in joy and in love.

 

--

WCU Catholic Campus Ministry

Matthew Newsome, MTh, campus minister

www.WCUCatholic.org

  

(828)293-9374  |   POB 2766, Cullowhee NC 28723

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From Davidson: CCM Bulletin week of November 12

A prayer for Thanksgiving….

I should like to have a great ale-feast for the King of Kings;

I should like the heavenly host to be drinking for all eternity.

I should like to have the men of heaven in my own dwelling.

I should like to have the vessels of charity to dispense.

I should like to have the pitchers of mercy for that company.

I should like hospitality to be here for their sake;

I should like Jesus to be here always.

                ~10^th C. Irish (attributed to St. Bridget)

Congratulations to Chris Mayes who was received into the Catholic church at our Lingle mass last Sunday! For more information on Rite of Reception, see the FAQ at the end of the bulletin.

~Karen

CATHOLIC VOLUNTEER NETWORK:

This is an umbrella organization for 200+ faith-based service groups, mostly (but not all) Catholic. CVN publishes a paper directory of programs called Response (I have tons in my office if you want one) with great indices to help spark your imagination. They also have an on-line  process to help match you with an appropriate program. You can find it here: https://www.catholicvolunteernetwork.org. Their rep will be on campus on tomorrow from 11-2 with a table in the Union, and she’ll come to our Renew dinner that night (and hopefully talk about the Dominican Volunteers, the program I did after college).

FAQ: What’s the Rite of Reception…and what does Evangelization mean?

• The Rite of Reception is how people who have been baptized (and maybe also confirmed) in another Christian denomination “switch over” to the Catholic Church—more correctly known as being “received into the full communion of the Catholic Church.”
• As a candidate, you go through a preparation process to make sure you understand enough about Catholicism to be able to make a full commitment to it. Then you participate in a quite simple rite, usually at a regular Sunday mass, asserting your acceptance of Catholicism. You are confirmed by the pastor and then you receive Eucharist.
• Evangelization has its roots in the latinized Greek word meaning “good news”; in Anglo-Saxon this was rendered gode-spell (good story), hence our English word ‘gospel.’
• Many of us Catholics associate evangelizing with bible-bashing soapbox-shouting “come to Jesus” corner preachers, door-to-door missionaries, or other sorts of folks who make us squirm. This style isn’t really ours, but we do evangelize and we always have and I hope you will. How might you evangelize in an authentic ‘non-squirmy’ way? Here are some ideas.
  • Invite a friend to Renew. We don’t hard-sell the Catholic church at Renew, but many people are longing for community, and that’s what we try to embody in our weekly fellowship. Anna Van Erven, who joined the church last year, explicitly mentions her Renew experience as one of the things that helped her decide her home was in the Catholic Church.
  • Invite a ‘Catholic’ friend to mass. There are 300+ Catholic students on this campus and they’re certainly not coming to Lingle Chapel. People have many reasons for not going to mass, but sometimes they really want to go but just need a friendly (and non-judgmental!) nudge.
  • Be able to correct, in simple language, the misunderstandings your friends have about the church. Here’s an example: Friend: “Why do you worship Mary?” You: “We don’t! We reverence her. Because you know, here was this girl, just a kid really, and the angel came to her and said Surprise! You’re having a baby! And what did she do? She pondered it and she said, Well okay then. So we see her as an excellent model of being a Christian disciple—God says Surprise! And we say, Okay then. Plus, she carried God in her womb. Who else has done THAT?”
  • Liberate the oppressed, bring sight to the blind, heal the lame. In other words, be a good friend to those who are suffering, who are neglected, who are confused, who are wandering lost.
  • Live a life of integrity. “They’ll know we are Christians by our love.” Are you a kind person? Considerate? Fair? Honest? Inclusive? Do you try to live a life worthy of the calling you received at baptism? What’s your social life like? What kind of friends do you have? Do you respect your body? Do you respect other people’s bodies? Do you take moments for prayer and reflection? Do you live a ‘eucharistic’ life, a life of gratitude? Do you try to practice justice and charity? How do you spend your money? What kind of career are you seeking?  And so forth. There’s no bigger turn-off in religion than hypocrisy.

Rejoice! Again I say, rejoice! So said St. Paul. Or as a favorite author of mine, Timothy Radcliffe, OP has written: “There can be no preaching of the good news unless it springs from joy.” Our faith is Good News, so let’s live that way.

               

___________________________

Karen Soos
Associate Chaplain and Catholic Campus Minister
Davidson College
Campus Box 7196
Davidson NC 28035
704. 894. 2423

From WCU: Gospel for Today

THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME (B)

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Jesus sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, "Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood."

Sometimes the points Jesus make seem so straightforward, one has to wonder why his disciples seemed so befuddled most of the time.  This passage appears to be one of those instances when our Lord was so plain spoken.  His point is obvious.  If Bill Gates gives a million dollars to charity, it may be the equivalent of you or I giving only a dollar, in terms of its impact to our finances.  However, if a homeless man has only $5 to his name after a day spent begging on the streets, and he chooses to buy two items from the Wendy's dollar menu and put the other $3 in the collection basket at the church, his sacrifice is much more significant, because it represents more of a hardship for him.

It's not hard to see the difference between the two gifts.  Bill Gates is never going to miss that million dollars.  But the $3 the homeless man gave could have bought him breakfast and lunch the next day.  This is what Jesus meant when he said the rich men were contributing "from their surplus wealth."  They were giving what they did not really need anyway.  That's not what we are called to do.  We are supposed to give the first fruits of our labor to God -- not the leftovers.

I think most of us get this.  We can see how the $3 gift from the man who has nothing means more than the million dollar gift from the man who has everything.  We get that, we really do.  But...

But isn't there a part of us, perhaps a big part, that says, "So what?"  

What does it matter how much it cost the giver to make the gift?  What does it matter if the donor was giving from his surplus or not?  The end result is that Bill Gate's million dollar gift can do far more to help people in need than the poor man's $3.  Wouldn't any charitable organization much rather have the million dollar gift?  In fact, if a few more billionaires like Bill Gates would make million dollar donations, then charities would not have to rely so much on small donations from poor people who probably can't afford to give anyway.  They'd be better off.  Wouldn't this actually be a better scenario?

From a purely pragmatic, secular, material vantage point, that is probably true.  But since when was Jesus concerned about purely material, pragmatic things?  

We are getting ready to enter into the season of Advent, which, like Lent, is a penitential season.  These seasons of penance in the Church year are marked by prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.  Why do we do those things?  We pray to help us grow in holiness.  We fast to purify and discipline ourselves, so that we can grow in holiness.  And we give alms to help those in need, right?  Well yes, that is part of it.  But almsgiving is grouped alongside prayer and fasting for a reason.  Like prayer and fasting, the deeper, spiritual meaning of almsgiving is to help us grow in holiness, as well.

Almsgiving is a two sided proposition.  On the one hand we give to help others.  But that gift is simultaneously a sacrifice which helps us to sanctify ourselves.  Living the Christian life, becoming more Christ-like, involves making sacrifices.  It involves self-giving.  This applies to all aspects of our lives -- we freely and joyfully give of our time, our talent, our love, and our material goods.  If we only give of our surplus, then we may be achieving one of the goals of almsgiving, helping others, but we are neglecting the other goal, that of sacrifice; and so our gift is of no spiritual benefit to us.

When we give freely -- not just from our excess, shrewdly calculating what we can afford -- we foster a sense of detachment from our worldly goods.  That is an excellent spiritual practice.  It reminds us that our material possessions don't really belong to us.  They belong to God; we are only borrowing them for a while.  We don't actually need those things.  We will not find joy and happiness in material possessions.  

I recently read a homily from a priest who was making a point about why the Scriptures say it is so hard for a rich man to enter heaven.  It is not because there is anything wrong with being rich, per se, this pastor said.  But rich people are far less accustomed to relying on God.  It is much harder for them to trust and ask others for help.  They are too self-reliant, and this bleeds over into the spiritual realm.

The woman in today's first reading gives us the opposite example.  Elijah comes to her and asks for a cake of bread.  This poor woman only had a small handful of flour and a few drops of oil left to make bread with -- enough for her and her son to have one last small meal before they starved.  Why didn't Elijah find the town baker to ask for bread?  Surely someone like that would have been far more likely to have an extra loaf on hand he could give.  He'd never miss it.  But that's not the point.  Elijah asked the poor woman who had nothing.  And she gave to Elijah from her poverty.  Elijah told her "Do not be afraid," and because she trusted in God, the scriptures tell us she and her son were able to eat for a year after that.  She did not fear.  And the Lord provided.  

This is the spiritual practice Jesus wants us to foster in ourselves.  Give freely from what you have.  And do not fear.  The more you give to help others -- not only money, but of your time, your love, your talents as well -- the more you give, the more you empty yourself, the more you will be filled with the spirit of Christ.  The more you will grow in holiness.  You will learn to rely on the Lord.  You will learn to trust in Him for your needs.  And only then will you find peace.

God bless!

Matt

--

WCU Catholic Campus Ministry

Matthew Newsome, MTh, campus minister

www.WCUCatholic.org

  

(828)293-9374  |   POB 2766, Cullowhee NC 28723

Join our FACEBOOK Group!

Seekers Retreat photos

A great time was had at our first Seekers Retreat in Black Mountain this past weekend.  Thank all the students who came, especially our speakers, and all the campus minsters who worked so hard to make it happen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From WCU: Weekly Update from CCM

THE CITY OF GOD...

St. Augustine of Hippo wrote his masterpiece (one of many masterpieces, I may add), City of God, in the early fifth century.  He wrote this work to explain Christianity's relationship not only with competing religions and philosophies, but with the Roman empire, as well.  It is perhaps the earliest work that tackles the subject of how the church should relate to the state.  In that work, St. Augustine argues that it does not really matter what form of government man lives under, so long as that government does not force him into iniquity.

What does Augustine mean by that?  Aren't some forms of government better than others?  Well, sure.  But it is important to remember that the Catholic Church does not endorse any one particular form of government.  The Church allows for people to live in a democracy, under a monarchy, in a federal republic, a tribal system, and many other forms of government.  One can argue that certain types of government are better economically, or socially, etc., but these are questions for lay people to decide.  In terms of the Christian faith, St. Augustine says any of these are fine, so long as none of them force man "into iniquity."  That is, no form of human government should force a man to live in sin.

This is, in Augustine's view, the exact opposite of government's purpose.  Government, according to his treatise, is aimed primarily at the common good.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church, quoting from the Second Vatican Council, tells us that the common good is "the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily" (CCC 1906).  The Catechism then goes on to identify three elements of the common good: respect for the human person, social well-being and development, and peace.  "It is the role of the state to defend and promote the common good of civil society" (CCC 1910).  Finally, "the common good is always oriented towards the progress of persons: 'The order of things must be subordinate to the order of persons, and not the other way around.'  This order is founded on truth, built up in justice, and animated by love" (CCC 1912).

So in a just society, persons come before things.  And the common good helps those persons to reach their fulfillment.  Now human persons have certain needs that need to be met; food, water, hygiene, education, etc.  A just society should allow people to acquire those things.  But these essentials are there in order that we may more easily pursue our fulfillment.  The ultimate end of man, our purpose in life, is to be holy so that we may share eternity with our Creator.  A just society is one in which each individual is allowed to better himself and grow in holiness.  

This does not mean that human governments should necessarily outlaw everything that is immoral and damaging to a man's soul.  Even St. Augustine saw that this would be foolish.  He makes the point that making everything that is a sin punishable by law would place an unduly heavy burden on people.  Only those sinful things which are especially damaging to the social order should be outlawed (things like murder and theft, etc.).  

But the flip side of this is that human government should NOT in any way, through its laws and precepts, inhibit men from living good moral lives.  Human government should never force its citizens to cooperate in sinful actions, to act against their consciences, or otherwise prohibit people from following the good.  Such a government would stymie moral growth and development, and do harm to the common good.

I thought about St. Augustine and his City of God today when I read this quotation from one of our Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson. "A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government." I thought about St. Augustine today in the voting booth as I cast my ballot.

I know most students reading this will have already voted by absentee ballot.  I just want to say to you, no matter how the election turns out, to please do your best, throughout your lives, to do what you can to help form and sustain a just society in our country.  At the end of the day, your job is not to be a good Republican or a good Democrat.  It's not even to be a good American.  Your job is simply to be good.  Let's pray for our government leaders, that they may help to create a society that helps people achieve the good.

God bless!

Matt

--

WCU Catholic Campus Ministry

Matthew Newsome, MTh, campus minister

www.WCUCatholic.org

  

(828)293-9374  |   POB 2766, Cullowhee NC 28723

Join our FACEBOOK Group!

From WCU: Gospel For Today

THIRTY-FIRST SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME (B)
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"Which is the first of all the commandments?"  Jesus replied, "The first is this.. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.  The second is this:  You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  There is no other commandment greater than these."

The above is from today's Gospel reading (Mk 12:28b-34).  My question for you is this:  When Jesus says there is no other commandment greater than these, is he doing away with the commandments given to the Isrealites by God through Moses?  The answer is no, he is not.  Jesus himself said he did not come to abolish the old law, but rather to fulfill it (Mt. 5:17).  Rather than doing away with the Ten Commandments, what Jesus does in today's gospel is to get right to the heart of them.

The Ten Commandments are a great gift to mankind.  I have heard people grumble that Christianity is all about the negative, telling people what they cannot do, and the Ten Commandments are the perfect example of this with all their "Thou shalt nots."  My response to this is to laugh and point out that it was much more efficient for God to tell us the few things we can't do than to list out all the great multitude of good things we can do.  Besides, knowing one's limitations can be freeing.

Imagine a playground for children that's set in the center of a small desert island in the south Pacific (I don't know why anyone would build such a thing, just go with it).  The ocean currents are swift and dangerous, and so to keep the children safe, they have to stay huddled in the center of the island, for fear of getting too close to the shore and being swept away.  Now if someone comes along and builds a fence around the perimeter of the island, the children can freely enjoy the whole island without fear.  God's commandments are like that fence.  They are not restrictive, but freeing, because they establish the safe boundaries for our lives.  Stay within the perimeter of the commandments and you are free to enjoy all life has to offer without worry of being swept away by sin.  It is only when we "jump the fence" that we are in danger.  That's not freedom; it is spiritual suicide.

Jesus today shows us that God's commandments are not in fact based in negativity; they are based in love.  First and foremost is the love of God.  The first three commandments deal with this love.
1. You shall have no other gods before me.
2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
3. Remember to keep holy the Lord's Day.
All of these have to do with our right relationship with God.  The rest of the commandments deal with how we relate to our neighbors.  Jesus tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves.  This means...
4. Honor your father and mother.
5. Don't murder.
6. Don't commit adultery.
7. Don't steal.
8. Don't lie.
9. Don't covet your neighbor's spouse.
10. Don't cover your neighbor's goods.
The fourth commandment can actually be considered a "hinge" between the first three and the last six.  Jesus teaches us to call God our Father, and so the first father we must honor is the one "who art in heaven."  Human parents derive their authority (and their position of honor) from the divine parent, God.  And so we honor our fathers and mothers here because they are the first reflections of God for us as children.  While we acknowledge God as our Creator, we know our parents had a hand in it, as well (we call the act of conceiving children procreation after all, because we assist in God's act of creation).  They brought us into being, they teach us the ways of the Lord, instruct us in the faith, and show us what it means to be good and loving Christian people, with the hope of eternal life for us.  And we honor them for doing those things.

And what if our human parents don't do those things, or don't do them well?  We still honor them, perhaps not so much for what they are, but for what they ought to be; for what they could be in cooperation with God's grace.

We honor them not because we have to, but because we know it is right to do so.  We honor them because we love them.
And that, dear students, is the motivation behind all of the Commandments -- love.  When we break any commandment, it is a violation of love.  We commit an unloving act, either against a fellow human being or against God himself.  We do harm to a relationship (and to our own dignity).  This is why we call Confession the Sacrament of Reconciliation -- because through it we are reconciled with God and with our neighbor.

St. Augustine once summed up the whole moral law in this way:  "Love God.  Then do as you will."
What he meant was not that it is okay for us to do anything at all, so long as we say we love God.  What he meant was that if you truly love God you will not want to do anything that would damage your relationship with Him.  You would not want to do anything that was against Love.

This is why Christ implores us to love God, not just a little, and not just on Sundays.  We need to love him with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, with all our strength.  It should be a fierce love.  And likewise with our neighbors -- we don't just love them when it is convenient to do so, but we love them as we love ourselves, which means constantly and consistently wanting nothing but good for them.  Our love of self should motivate us to become saints, so that we may enjoy eternity with God, in communion with the other saints and angels.  We want our neighbors to be there, too, so we should be helping them to become saints in this life.

It's all about love.  Love of God.  Love of neighbor.  Love of self.  (In that order).  Put that into practice and things start to make sense.
God bless!
Matt
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WCU Catholic Campus Ministry
Matthew Newsome, MTh, campus minister
www.WCUCatholic.org
  
(828)293-9374  |   POB 2766, Cullowhee NC 28723
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From Davidson: CCM bulletin week of Oct 29

A Prayer for All Saints and All Souls:  Prayer of Commendation (said when near death)

We commend you, dear brother / sister, to Almighty God and entrust you to your Creator.

May you return to him who formed you from the dust of the earth.

May holy Mary, the angels, and all the saints come to meet you as you go forth from this life.

May Christ who was crucified for you bring you freedom and peace.

May Christ who died for you admit you to his garden of paradise.

May Christ the True Shepherd acknowledge you as one of his flock.

May he forgive all your sins, and set you among those he has chosen.

May you see your Redeemer face to face and enjoy the vision of God forever.

Happy Halloween, Happy All Saints, Happy All Souls! See more on the saints in the FAQ below.

On a completely different note, here’s the link I promised last week to the US Bishops’ document on being a Catholic voter, Faithful Citizenship: http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/faithful-citizenship/forming-consciences-for-faithful-citizenship-document.cfm

~Karen

FAQ… What is the Communion of Saints?

“Communion” comes from the Greek koinonia, meaning “community.” The Church is above all a communion or fellowship of believers, called by God the Father, in Christ, through the power of the Spirit. (God, who is our source and destination, is Trinity, communion, community too—and we are created in the image of God). This community is not broken by death, and this is why our grief when someone dies is always tempered by hope. Nor is it attenuated by distance, which is why in the Prayers of the Faithful we always pray for people around the world before praying for ourselves. “Communion of saints” is a translation of “communio sanctorum”, communion of holy persons.

In the Catholic tradition, there are five ways to think about saints.

1.  Saints as exemplars of holiness and those singled out by the Church for public commemoration: These would be the “big S” Saints, like St. Francis and St. Catherine; our devotion to the Saints is a hallmark of our Catholicism.
2. Communion of Saints as the living:  The apostle Paul used to address the Christians in the churches he set up as saints; it’s how he referred to members of the Church, the community of Believers. We are saints by virtue of our baptism, which unites us to Christ and to all the rest of the baptized in one great community / communion.
3. Communion of Saints as the dead: This includes all those who lived as holy children of God and who have now entered the presence of God. When we think about all the saints of heaven, those saints can include your grandparents or anyone you loved who was a good and holy person.
4. Communion of Saints as the living and the dead: The communion of saints is like a great chain, linking all of us here on earth who are united by our baptism into one Church, with all who have gone before us, united by baptism into death and new life in Christ. Because we are all part of one family, one community, one communion, we look out for one another. We who are still alive pray for those who have gone before us, and those who have died intercede for us who remain behind. In the liturgy, we all join together, saints above and saints below, in worshiping God, as this story tells it:  A parish priest on a small Greek island welcomed a visitor, who asked how many people worshiped in the tiny church on Sundays. The priest replied, ten or twelve thousand. How can that be, asked the visitor—where do they come from and how can they all fit in this tiny place? The priest answered that all the people who had ever prayed in that church were still there, which is why when they said at Mass “with all the angels and saints we sing your praise: Holy holy holy” they were joining with all the holy ones who had ever worshiped in that place.
5. Communion of Holy Things…or Eucharist: “Communion of Saints (holy persons)” is one translation of “communio sanctorum.” But that phrase can also be translated “Communion of holy things,” that is, the elements of the Eucharist. The Eastern Church brings these two strands together nicely in their liturgy, when the priest says right before the distribution of Communion, “Holy things for holy people.”

[Adapted from Catholic Update, “Communion of Saints: Key to the Eucharist,” by William H. Shannon.]

___________________________

Karen Soos
Associate Chaplain and Catholic Campus Minister
Davidson College
Campus Box 7196
Davidson NC 28035
704. 894. 2423