Gospel For Today: 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time

TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (A)

click here for readings

Tu est Petrus, et super hanc petram aedificábo Ecclésiam meam...  This is the first part of the antiphon we hear at Mass today before the gospel reading.  It quotes from the gospel itself (Mt 16:13-20), which in English says, "You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it."  This iconic passage takes place at Caesarea Philippi, a place the gospel writer mentions specifically.  If you do a Google image search on line you can see this place.  There is a huge stone outcropping with a temple built upon it to the pagan god Pan.  It is by this backdrop that Jesus changes Simon's name to Peter (which means "rock") and says, "upon this rock I will build my Church."

This is obviously a very key moment in the gospels, and so it is important to consider just what is happening here.  This passage is foundational to our understanding of the Church, for Christ tells us not only that He intends to found His Church upon a person (Peter), but also what sort of authority that person will have.  "I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.  Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

The Church also gives us today an Old Testament reading from Isaiah 22:19-23 which speaks of keys being given to convey authority.  "I will place the key of the House of David on Eliakim's shoulder; when he opens no one shall shut, when he shuts no one shall open.  I will fix him like a peg in a sure spot..."  There is obvious similarity between this and our gospel reading.  What is the significance?

In the history of Israel, there developed the office of prime minister.  This person had the authority to rule over the kingdom in the absence of the king.  It was an office that could be passed on from one generation to the next, symbolized by keys.  What we read in our passage from Isaiah today is God passing on the authority of the prime minister of the Davidic kingdom from Shebna to Eliakim.  It is no coincidence that Jesus uses the same symbol of keys, and nearly the same phraseology, to establish the prime ministerial office of His Kingdom upon Peter, an office which can be passed on from one generation to the next.  The enduring nature of this office is implied when Christ promises that the gates of hell will not prevail against His Church.

Instead of "opening" and "shutting" as we hear in Isaiah, Jesus speaks of the power to "bind" and "loose."  This phraseology would also have been familiar to the Jewish people.  It signified to them the authority to teach and render binding decisions on the law, and the authority to include or exclude people from the community.  It also signifies the forgiveness of sins.  This is why even to this day we speak of the authority of the Church to teach, govern and sanctify (Catechism of the Catholic Church 888-896).

There is something about this passage, however, which can easily be overlooked in English translation.  Many languages have different words for the second person pronoun depending on whether it is singular or plural.  English uses "you" for both.  If we were reading this passage in Spanish, or more to the point, the original Greek, we would see that Jesus uses the singular "you" when He tells Peter, "I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven."  But Jesus uses the plural "you" when He says, "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."  In other words, Peter alone possesses the keys of the kingdom (symbolizing the prime ministerial authority), but the Apostles together with Peter possess the power to bind and loose (CCC 881).  

What does all this mean for us in the Church today?  How does this authority granted to the Church by Christ play out in history?  We can give one very prominent example dealing with the scriptures themselves.  From the very beginning, the liturgies of the early Church included readings from sacred scripture.  These included readings from the Hebrew Bible, what we call the Old Testament, but very quickly also included readings about Jesus and the teachings of the new Christian Church.  These would include gospel accounts of Jesus' life and mission.  These would also include letters written by the Apostles to various people and Christian communities.  However, there was no set "New Testament."  There was no authoritative list of which books were inspired by God and which were not.

This led to some variation in what texts were read from during the liturgies.  To ensure unity in worship, local bishops, utilizing their authority as chief shepherds of their particular churches, began to keep lists of books which were approved for liturgical use in their church (what we would call a diocese today). The earliest such lists that we know of date to the end of the second century.  But still, this meant that different texts were considered canonical in one region but not in another.  This became problematic for the universal Church as different heresies arose, especially Gnosticism.  The Gnostics would write their own gospels, containing teachings rather contrary to the Apostolic faith, which would circulate and lead to confusion among the faithful.  (If you watch the Discovery Channel or the History Channel around Christmas and Easter you often see documentaries on "The Lost Gospel of Judas," or "The Lost Gospel of Thomas."  These are Gnostic gospels, not lost Christian gospels  The Church has known about them for about 1700 years, so no one should have their faith shaken by their existence.)

And so regional councils of bishops together met and discussed which books should officially be included in the canon of the Bible.  Two councils, at Hippo in 393 AD and Carthage in 397 AD, would approve the list of 73 books which are still contained in the Catholic Bible today.  These were local councils (not full ecumenical councils of the Church), and so their decrees are not binding on the universal Church.  So in the year 405, Pope Innocent I, successor of St. Peter, affirmed the same list of 73 books.  The case was closed, so to speak, from that point forward until the Protestant Reformation when Martin Luther and his followers questioned the legitimacy of certain Old Testament books (what Catholics call the deuterocanon and Protestants call the apocrypha) and removed them.  The Council of Trent (1545-63), a full Ecumenical Council of the Church, exercising the teaching authority of all the bishops united with the pope, reaffirmed the canon of 73 books in the face of this controversy.  

And so the very reason we have the scriptures that we do today, and the faith that they contain the inspired Word of God, is due to the exercise of the teaching authority to bind and loose that Christ gave to Peter, His "prime minister," and to the Apostles.  This is why St. Augustine could say, "I would not believe in the gospel if the authority of the Catholic Church did not move me to do so" (397 AD).  

In the end we all submit ourselves to some authority, even if only the authority of popular opinion.  To be true to ourselves and who we were made to be, we should submit ourselves only to the authority of God, the author of all Creation.  That authority exists in Christ, His Son, who not only became man but saw fit to allow man to share in that divine authority.  That authority has been transmitted from Peter and the Apostles down through the ages right to today with Pope Francis and all the bishops of the Church, including our Bishop of Charlotte, Peter Jugis.  It is the same Church that Christ founded upon Peter, teaching the same Apostolic faith, and possessing the same authority from God to lead her people to salvation.  

--

WCU Catholic Campus Ministry

Matthew Newsome, MTh, campus minister

www.WCUCatholic.org

  

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

Join our FACEBOOK Group!

Gospel For Today

THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT (C)

click here for readings

"I am..." For us, this is an incomplete statement.  We can finish the thought in so many different ways.  I am a campus minister.  I am a husband.  I am a father.  I am a brother, a son, a friend, etc.  These statements all tell you something about myself; my occupation, my vocation, my relationships.  All of these things make up part of who I am, but none of them are the totality of who or what I am.

I could be very specific and give you my name.  "I am Matthew."  This tells you who, but not what, I am.  I could be very general and say, "I am a human being."  This tells you what I am in the most basic terms.  The statement "I am" can be read as "I exist as..."  Other aspects of my existence may change over time -- my relationships may change, I can change occupations, or even change my name if I were so inclined.  But I cannot change the fact that I am a human being.  That is the nature of my existence.

A human being is one who has his "being" -- that is to say, his existence -- as a human.  We are speaking of human nature, that thing which all humans, young and old, short and tall, black or white, male or female, possess in common which makes them distinct from orangutans and elephants and porcupines.  To speak of a thing's nature is to speak of the type of existence it has.  When you read the word "tree" you have an image in your mind of what a tree is, even though I have not written of any specific tree.  We know that there are all manner of trees -- junipers, oaks, ash, beech, maple, willows, etc -- but we also know that all of these things have something in common, their "treeness," that makes them different from bushes and vines.  

So it is with we human beings.  We all share our type of existence in common.  And it is this common human nature that makes up the backbone of our moral law.  Catholic moral tradition is rooted firmly in the natural law, which takes as its basis our human nature.  Put simply, when we act in accordance with our nature, we are doing moral good.  When we act against our nature, we do harm to our human dignity, and do a moral evil.  So this idea of "nature" or "essence" is very important to our lives even though natural law is not taught much in schools anymore, outside of a few philosophy courses.  

All this is very interesting, you may be thinking, but what does it have to do with today's scripture readings?  As I said to begin with, when we begin a statement, "I am," there are many different ways we can finish it, the most fundamental of which is to tell our nature, or what we exist as.  "I am a human person."  

So how does God complete that statement?  What is God's nature?

In today's first reading from Exodus Moses has an amazing encounter with the Living God in a burning bush.  God speaks to Moses directly.  He tells him, "I am the God of your fathers," and says He has heard the cry of the people of Israel in Egypt and He will rescue them from their slavery.  Moses asks a very simple, but important question.  "If I go to the people of Israel and tell them 'the God of your fathers' sent me, and they ask me your name, what should I tell them?"  In other words, who are you?

God's answer is short and profound.  "This is what you should tell the Israelites: I AM sent me to you."  God gives His name as, "I am who am."  In Hebrew (which has no vowels), this is the tetragrammaton YHWH, the holy name of God which devout Jews dare not pronounce and even to this day cannot be spoken within Catholic liturgies.  

For us, as I said, "I am" is an incomplete statement.  We must qualify our existence by saying what we exist as.  "I am Matthew," or "I am a husband," or "I am a human being."  For God, "I am" is a complete statement.  God does not "exist as" anything.  He exists, period.  "I am who am."  He is existence.  By revealing His name to us in this way, God is giving us a very intimate glimpse into His being.  We learn something about God's unique nature.  The divine nature is existence itself.  To be God is to be existence.

What does this tell us about God?  If we look around us in this created world, everything we see has two things in common.  1) It exists, and 2) it does not have to exist.  All that we can observe, including you and I, has a dependent existence.  We could just as easily not have existed and the cosmos would get along just fine.  In fact, there need not be any cosmos at all when it comes down to it.  We have a borrowed existence, and so the question arises, borrowed from where?  Or from whom?  

But since God's very nature is existence, He cannot not exist.  His is the only existence that is not dependent upon something else.  Therefore he must be eternal, never having a beginning and never having an end.  Everything that exists does so only because it shares in God's existence, in His being.  In this way we each have a share in the Divine Life.  And we continue in our existence only because we are sustained by God's love.  A great theologian once said that if God every stopped loving you, for one brief moment, you would vanish out of being.  

In a few weeks time we will hear in the scriptures of the arrest of Jesus, of His trial and subsequent crucifixion on Good Friday.  He will be accused of blasphemy.  How did He blaspheme?  It is because He made such statements as "I AM the bread of life," and "I AM the way, the truth and the life."  He said, "I tell you, before Abraham was, I AM."  

By making such statements, Jesus was identifying Himself, for those who had ears to hear, with the eternal God who is existence itself.  Christ is YHWH.  He is the Great I AM.  He is life.  And either he is wrong and guilty of blaspheming.  Or He is right...  and if He is right...  well, then that changes things.

Understanding this is why the Apostles could meet their deaths with joy in their hearts, for love of Christ.  It is why countless disciples and converts risked their own lives to live for Him.  Christ is the One who spoke to Moses in the burning bush, who gave spark to all Creation, entered into Creation itself to redeem it.  Realizing this means a paradigm shift.  It means making fundamental changes in your life.  It means repentance and conversion in the light of His love.  It means nothing can ever be the same.

--

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

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT (C)

click here for readings

Today's gospel reading from Luke relates Christ's temptation in the wilderness.  It's a familiar story to Christians.  Jesus enters the desert to fast for forty days, and while there Satan tempts him.  He encourages Christ (who is fasting) to turn a stone into bread.  Jesus rebukes him, saying, "Man does not live by bread alone."  Satan then offers to make all the kingdoms of the world Christ's if he will give him worship, and Jesus again refuses, because he will only give worship to God.  Lastly Satan tells Christ that if he really is the Son of God he should leap off the highest parapet of the temple and let God's angels protect him.  Christ refuses and says we should not tempt God.

As I said, it is a familiar account to most Christians, and a perfect reflection to begin our Lenten journey of forty days of fasting.  Jesus was able to resist the temptations offered him by the devil because he placed his faith and trust in God first.  We can, like Christ, do the same when faced with our own temptations.

But there is a sentence in this gospel passage that especially strikes me.  I don't want it to go by without notice.  It says, simply, "He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over he was hungry."  

The story of Jesus' forty days in the desert has two components.  One is that he was able to resist all the temptations Satan had to offer, from a single loaf of bread, to all the kingdoms of the world.  The other is that he was able to deny himself a basic good -- food.  His denial of Satan is the fruit of a disciplined will and trust in God.  His denial of his own hunger is the spiritual exercise that strengthens that will in the first place.

Let us not lose sight of this in our own Lenten observance.  Every year around the beginning of this season I hear people encouraging others to take a different approach to what they give up for Lent.  These well meaning folks say instead of giving up chocolate, or coffee, we should try giving up gossip, or anger, or jealousy, or lust, or selfishness.  These things, they say, would make a true and pleasing sacrifice to the Lord.  That is what the Lord truly wants of us, for us to become better, more holy people after his own heart.

And to a certain extent I agree.  We should give up gossip and jealousy and selfishness and those things, to the extent that we struggle with them.  We should give them up, however, because they are sinful.  Giving up sinful things is something a Christian should strive to do all year round.  Lent is a season of repentance and penance, yes.  And if the graces of this season encourage you to let go of some of these sinful inclinations then that is a wonderful thing.  But that's not quite the point of the Lenten fast.

Why did Jesus give up food for forty days?  Is food sinful?  Is it bad to eat?  No, quite the contrary.  Food is necessary for life.  It is a good.  That's why the abuse of food (gluttony) is a sin.  And that's why giving it up can be a worthy sacrifice.  After all, in order to be a true sacrifice, the thing we sacrifice must be good.  Think of the ancient Israelites making animal sacrifices to God. It was an unblemished lamb that was offered, not the runt of the litter, not the lame and the sick lambs.  They offered their best as a sacrifice.

Likewise, when a priest makes his vow of celibacy it is not because marriage is bad.  On the contrary, it is only because marriage is such a great good that freely giving it up can be such a noble sacrifice on the part of the priest.  

My wife and I, before Lent, were having a dinner table conversation with our children about what they were each going to try to give up this year.  My wife reminded them, "It should be something that you will be happy to have back again at Easter."  That's a good way of thinking about it.  For it to be a true sacrifice for us, it ought to be something good we will miss. It should be a little hard for us to let it go.  What we do when we make this kind of Lenten fast is to both offer something good to the Lord, and also discipline our own will.  If we can tell ourselves "no" in small matters, then we will be able more easily to tell Satan "no" when he tempts us in greater things.

If you have decided to give up something sinful during Lent, I am not saying don't bother!  That's a worthy goal and I encourage you in it.  Seek out the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) and pray for God's assistance in conquering that sin.  But I also encourage you to think of something good that you can also offer to God this year.  By denying yourself a good thing, you will strengthen your spirit and build the discipline necessary to continue resisting the temptation to sin long after Lent is over.

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!

Gospel For Today

FOURTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME (C)

click here for readings

Anyone who has ever been to a Catholic wedding will recognize today's second reading, from 1 Corinthians.  It is full of some of the most quotable lines of St. Paul's writings. 

"If I speak in human and angelic tongues, but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal."

"If I have all faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing."

"Love is patient, love is kind... It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

"So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

If you'll forgive the pun, what St. Paul does here is get to the heart of the matter.  Our best actions, our most eloquent words, our noblest deeds, our strongest faith -- all of these things can be spoiled by a lack of love.  If I had to summarize in one sentence what God wants from us, I would have to say, "He wants our hearts."  He wants us to love.

This helps to explain what Christ meant when He said He did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it (Mat 5:17).  Think about these things.  The Commandments say to not commit adultery.  But Jesus says, "everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Mat 5:28).  Likewise the Commandments say not to kill.  But Jesus tells us to not even to be angry with our brothers (Mat 5:22).

The Commandments say "Thou shalt have no gods before me."  But Jesus says, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind..." (Lk 10:27).

You see how Jesus' teachings do not contradict or do away with the Commandments, but rather get to the heart of their meaning.  Christ goes on to say in the same passage from Luke that you should "love your neighbor as yourself."  It follows if you love your neighbor, you will not desire to lie to him, steal from him, kill him, seduce his wife, or covet his possessions, etc.  Just as if you love God with all your heart, you will not take His name in vain, disobey His commands, or worship false gods (by treating other things as if they are more important than God is).

This is why St. Augustine could summarize the whole of the moral law in one sentence.  "Love God; then do as you will."  He did not mean this in a modern day, relativist sense.  Some mistakenly interpret Augustine today to mean we have permission to do whatever we wish, so long as we love God.  This is not true.  There are some things which we may never do because they are contrary to our nature, contrary to the way God made us.  We call these mortal sins.  They are beneath our dignity and actually cause us spiritual damage when we do them; things such as murder, adultery, fornication, blasphemy, dishonesty, theft, and the like (things which violate the Ten Commandments).  What St. Augustine means is that if we truly love God, we will have no desire to do these things.  In fact, the thought of them abhors us.  So if you truly have love of God in your heart, you are free to do what you will, because you will only desire to do what is pleasing to God.

So how do we increase our love for God and neighbor?  We decide to love.  Today.  

Think about this: Jesus commands us to love.  This means that love is an action, an act of the will, something we can make up our minds to do.  It is more than just a human emotion.  If love were simply an emotion, Jesus could not have commanded it of us.  You cannot command someone to feel an emotion.  Telling someone who is sad to "feel happy," is ineffectual.  If we could choose to feel happy, no one would ever feel sorrow!   You cannot choose to feel frightened, or joyous, or frustrated.  These are things that happen to you, not things you can choose.

But love is different.  You can choose to love.  God would never command us to do something impossible.  Love is an act of the will.  And it is like anything else we do -- it is a skill we can practice and improve over time.  When one first begins to love it can be shaky, haphazard, and require great effort.  But over time, with practice, it can become effortless and graceful.  The great practitioners of love do so with marvelous achievement!  (Think of the saints as our "Lovers Hall of Fame").

One final -- and essential -- fact about love.  God is love (1 Jn 4:8).  This is the crux of St. Paul's teaching.  We can perform mighty deeds and achieve all that is great in the eyes of man.  But if we do it all without love, we do it without God.

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

THIRD SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME (C)

click here for readings

In today's first reading from Nehemiah  Ezra reads the Law of God to the people of Israel.  We are told that "he read out of the book from daybreak till midday, in the presence of the men, the women, and those children old enough to understand; and all the people listened attentively to the book of the law."

What struck me as I read this passage was the reaction of the people upon hearing God's word proclaimed by Ezra.  "Then they bowed down and prostrated themselves before the LORD, their faces to the ground."

As I read of their reaction, I could not help but contrast it in my mind to the response that millions of Catholic faithful will give upon hearing the word of God proclaimed to them at Mass today; that is, a half-mumbled and rather apathetic sounding, "Thanks be to God." Ho-hum.

We are taught that the Scriptures are the word of God, divinely inspired by our Almighty Creator for our instruction and sanctification.  A gift from the Maker of the Universe.  Do we realize how precious this gift is?  Or have we allowed it to become pedestrian and uninteresting to us?  Do we take it for granted?  Is there truly any gratitude, wonder and awe in our "Thanks be to God?"  

I confess, I don't hear it at Mass from those around me in the pews.  And I often don't feel it myself.  We need to be better.

Those who heard Ezra proclaim the law to them fell to their faces, all because their God had spoken to them through this holy writ.  We have that same gift with us today; but we have so much more.  Today's Gospel makes that clear.  Jesus stands before the synagogue and reads from the prophet Isaiah.  "Today," he tells the assembly, "this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing."  Jesus is the Word of God.  He is the perfect Image of the Father.  God was no longer communicating with His people simply by inspiring prophets and scribes; He took on flesh and blood to come among them and speak with them directly.

If hearing God's law proclaimed is reason to fall prostrate, what do you do when you encounter that God face to face?

I was told a story once by a priest that has stuck with me for years.  He was talking with a Muslim student at a school this priest was assigned to as chaplain.  The priest was talking about the Eucharist being the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ.  The young Muslim man listened and then waved him off, saying, "That is what you teach, but you don't really believe that."

The priest was taken aback, and asked the young man how he could make such a statement.  The answer was simple.  "You claim that the bread and wine become the body and blood of your God.  But I see you all at Mass go up to receive Communion.  You shuffle forward like you are waiting in line at the bus station.  If I truly believed that was God on the altar, I would not be able to get up off my knees."

The priest was humbled.  We should be, too.  The young man has a point.

Am I saying we need to all fall prostrate on the church floor when we hear the Scriptures read at Mass?  No, that is not what the Church asks us to do.  But we ought to ask ourselves honestly if our attitude, our posture, our expressions truly reflect what we believe in our minds and hearts.  Wen we say, "Thanks be to God," when we hear the Word proclaimed, are we truly thankful?  Is their gratitude in our hearts and in our voices at the gift of God's word in the scriptures?  

When we kneel down before the Blessed Sacrament, are we kneeling in homage to our very God, to whom we give worship?  Or are we kneeling because.... well, that's what you do at this point in the Mass?  

When the priest asks us to lift our hearts to the Lord, and we respond, "It is right and just," are we just saying the words, or do we take that opportunity to actually raise our hearts to God?  

When we say "Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy," are we just repeating what the priest or the cantor says, or are we asking our Savior to have mercy on our souls?

My point is only this.  Let our words and our actions mean something.  When we participate at Mass, let us truly participate in our prayers, our words, our postures.  We are given an amazing and earth-shattering opportunity to come into the very presence of the One who made us and give Him worship.  Even more amazingly, He offers to us forgiveness and healing, should we ask it.  And even more amazingly, scandalously so, He offers to us Himself, to be taken and consumed into our very bodies so that He may live in us, and we in Him.

That Muslim student had a point.  How can we get up off our knees?  I don't know who he was or where he is.  But I like to think he's a Catholic now.  We could use more people like him in the Body of Christ.

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!

Gospel For Today

FEAST OF THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD

click here for readings

Here's a quick question...  why do we get baptized?  According to our Catholic faith, as taught in the Catechism, our baptism confers the forgiveness of sins (original sin, and actual sin).  It also causes us to be reborn in the Holy Spirit, united with Christ and His Church as children of God.

So here's the follow up question prompted by today's feast.  Why was Christ baptized?  Believing what we do about the effects of baptism, Jesus would not need the graces offered by God through the baptismal waters.  He was without sin; and he already was perfectly united with God as His only begotten Son.  So why was Jesus baptized?

In praying the Morning Office today, I found answers to that question in the intercessory prayers, which I would like to share with you this morning.

Christ, you made your light shine on us by revealing yourself; grant us the spirit of humble service to all people.

Christ's baptism is a revelation, a manifestation of his divinity.  In today's Gospel reading, John the Baptist said, "I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming.  I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."  Elsewhere John also said of Jesus, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world."  Through his baptism, Jesus was revealing himself as the one of whom John spoke.  This manifestation is linked to the feast of Epiphany, which we celebrated last week, when Christ was manifested as king of all nations by the visitation of the magi from the east.

Christ, you humbled yourself and received baptism from your servant to show us the way of humility; grant us the spirit of humble service to our fellow man.

Christ was baptized for our benefit, not for his own.  It was an act of humility for him, just as his incarnation, being born of human flesh, was an act of humility.  Jesus allowing John to baptize him is similar to when Our Lord washed the feet of the Apostles at the Last Supper.  He is showing us that a true leader is one who serves other.  One cannot be holy without being humble.

Christ, through your baptism you cleansed us of every blemish and made us children of your Father; bestow your spirit of adoption on all who seek you.

Christ was already without sin.  Christ was already the begotten Son of the Father.  Through his baptism, he has made this sacrament the vehicle by which we become the Father's adopted children and are cleansed from the dirt and grime of sin upon our souls, so that we may be more like him.

Christ, through baptism you have consecrated creation and opened the door of repentance to all who prepare for baptism; make us servants of your Gospel in the world.

In a manner of speaking, when John poured the waters of baptism upon the head of Jesus Christ, it was not Christ who was baptized by the water, but the other way around.  The waters of the world were baptized by Christ.  God blesses his creation and transforms it in to a vehicle of his grace and mercy.  Those of us who repent and come to the waters of baptism drink from the fountain of grace that erupts from Jesus Christ.

Christ, through your baptism you revealed to us the Holy Trinity when the Father called you his beloved Son and the Holy Spirit came down upon you; renew the spirit of adoption among the royal priesthood of the baptized.

Again, Christ's baptism is a manifestation; not only of Jesus's divinity, but of the Blessed Trinity itself.  In this scene in the gospel today we have all three actors, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit on the stage.  The Trinity was not a concept known to the Jesus; it is a facet of God's inner life that is revealed to us only through Jesus Christ.  At his baptism, we receive a glimpse of the Holy Trinity, an intimate look at God never before revealed to us.  

And so let us celebrate this last feast of the Christmas season, this feast wherein all the waters of the world are made holy, the doors of forgiveness thrown open to all who repent, and God the Trinity is made manifest to us.  

Almighty, eternal God, when the Spirit descended upon Jesus at his baptism in the Jordan, you revealed him as your own beloved Son.  Keep us, your children born of water and the Spirit, faithful to our calling.

We ask this through our Lord, Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

For more information on the Baptism of the Lord, click the link below:

http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2013-01-13

--

WCU Catholic Campus Ministry

Matthew Newsome, MTh, campus minister

www.WCUCatholic.org

  

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

Join our FACEBOOK Group!

Gospel For Today

SOLEMNITY OF THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD

click here for readings

Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance.  Raise your eyes and look about; they all gather and come to you...

That is taken from today's first reading (Is 60:1-6), and aptly sums up the significance of today's feast.  They all gather and come to you...

Christmas is a time of great joy, for it marks the arrival in human history of the Messiah, the great savior that the Jewish people had been waiting for.  Not all of the people of Israel would recognize him, but some few would.  Those who understood the meaning of the scriptures, chiefly Isaiah (which is why we read so much from Isaiah around this time of year).  God had been preparing his Chosen People to receive His Son for generations, through prophets and angels.

But we should not limit ourselves to looking upon Christ as the Jewish savior.  Seeing him as the Messiah only of a certain ethnic tribe, not all of whom even recognized him when he came, makes Jesus seem rather provincial.  For that is not the whole story.  Christ came to the Jews, as foretold, but he did not come only for the Jews.  There were others in the world who were looking for the arrival of a great king.

...behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, "Where is the newborn king of the Jews?  We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage."

This is from today's Gospel reading (Mt 2:1-12).  The magi were a priestly caste from Persia.  You can see in their name the root for our word "magician," but these were not men who pulled rabbits out of hats at children's birthday parties.  What they did do was to watch the stars for signs of importance.  And around the time of Christ's birth, they saw something of great importance; something that astounded them enough that they traveled a great distance from their homes to come to a small, backwater Roman province and pay homage to a humble child born to a carpenter and his young wife, in place of no political or military significance.  

They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage.

The magi were great sages and religious leaders among their people.  They did not receive prophecy from God, or a message from an angel.  There is no evidence to suggest they knew anything of the Jewish scriptures.  But they sought knowledge and truth; which is the same as seeking God.  They looked to the heavens for signs, the stars and planets, as best they knew them.  They looked to nature itself, made by the hand of God.

What did they see in the sky?  There is a wonderful DVD called The Star of Bethlehem which I encourage you to watch if you can.  It details in astronomical terms just what was going in in the sky over that part of the world in the time leading up to Christ's birth.  The motions of the stars and the physical forces which govern them all were set in place at the very moment of creation.  From the beginning of time God ordained the day of the arrival of His Son on earth, and decreed that the stars themselves would proclaim his arrival.

The magi, gentiles not counted among the Chosen People, saw these signs.  They recognized something special about this king being born.  He was King of the Jews, but more than that.  He was their king, as well.  His kingdom would have no boundaries, and his reign would have no end.

Epiphany means "manifestation."  It is in this visit by the magi, paying homage to the Christ child, that the universality of his lordship is first manifested to us.  As St. Paul proclaims in today's second reading (Eph 3:2-3a, 5-6), "the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus..."

It doesn't matter if you are Jewish or a Gentile.  It doesn't matter if you are black or white, European or Asian, or any other ethnic group.  If you are an Anglo-Saxon, Jesus is your Lord.  If you are German, Jesus is your Lord.  If you are Cherokee, Jesus is your Lord.  African-American?  Jesus is your Lord.  Chinese?  Jesus is your Lord?  Polynesian, Aborigine, Inuit, Egyptian...  Jesus is your Lord.  Even if you are a white-bread American teenager from a middle class suburban family, you have a king, Emmanuel, God with us, Jesus Christ.

There is nowhere and no one that Christ's reign does not encompass.  His reign extends across the globe and into the heavens.  He is your king, too.  Come, let us adore him.

--

Have a blessed Epiphany!  For more information on this celebration, including some traditional Epiphany activities and blessings, check out this link on CatholicCulture.org.

--

WCU Catholic Campus Ministry

Matthew Newsome, MTh, campus minister

www.WCUCatholic.org

  

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

Join our FACEBOOK Group!

Gospel For Today

FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY OF JESUS, MARY AND JOSEPH

click here for readings

This is a season of feasts and celebrations!  Beginning this past Tuesday, on Dec. 25, we entered the season of Christmas with the great Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord.  The Christmas season traditionally runs to Epiphany (January 6 - hence the "Twelve Days of Christmas"), but the Church has in more modern times extended the celebration of Christmas to the feast of the Baptism of the Lord (January 13).  So don't be too quick to take down your holiday decorations!

The eight days which consist of Christmas Day and the week following are considered the Octave of Christmas, which is celebrated as one great continuous feast day in the liturgical year.  Within the Octave of Christmas we have many individual observances, which I think are telling.

Starting Dec. 25 we celebrate the birth of our Savior, the entrance of God the Creator into human history; not arriving on a chariot with a great army to be seated on a golden throne, but born as a helpless, dependent baby into a human family with a mother and a father. a manger filled with straw, where animals slept.  The world was made new and things would never be the same.

Immediately following this joyful celebration, we have on Dec. 26 the Feast of St. Stephen.  Stephen was the very first Christian martyr, the first person to die for his faith in Christ.  You can read about him in Acts chapter 7.  As he was being stoned to death, his final words were to ask God to forgive those who were killing him.  Some people may not feel that celebrating the death of the first Christian martyr fits the "tone" of the Christmas season.  It's supposed to be a time of joy and peace, right?

But I believe it is a perfect fit for this season.  Stephen's martyrdom tells us exactly what is demanded of us who rejoice at the Lord's birth in Bethlehem.  Now that the Christ has arrived in this human scene, we must be prepared to follow him -- even unto death.  Do you or I have that kind of commitment and devotion to Jesus today?  Are we willing to face those who would stone us because of our beliefs?  Even if it is just the metaphorical stoning of social pressure and derision?

On Dec. 28 we celebrated the Feast of the Holy Innocents.  This is the day the Church honors all of those young people who were killed by the order of King Herod in his attempt to destroy the Christ child whom he saw as a threat to his reign.  He ordered all boys in Bethlehem and the surrounding area under the age of two to be massacred.  The magi would not divulge to him where Jesus was, so Herod had to cast a wide net to catch him.  He failed.  But he slaughtered countless innocents in the process.  The Church recognizes that these innocent babies, too, gave their life for Christ in a way, even though they did not consciously know it.

Sadly, Herod's spirit is still alive and with us today, as an even greater number of innocents is slaughtered through the holocaust of abortion.  1.5 million lives are snuffed out each year in our country alone.  Who knows how many worldwide?  Do we have the courage of St. Stephen to continue to stand up and speak out for those without a voice; the most vulnerable and innocent among us?  Can we take the stoning that today's culture may throw our way for being pro-life?

And today, Dec. 30, we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family.  This is especially important in our time, as the family itself is under attack.  The foundation of the human family is marriage.  Many today mistakenly believe marriage as the union in which a husband and wife form a couple.  But that is not true.  It is a union in which a husband and wife form a family.  The purpose of every marriage is to engender children.  This is true even for those married couples that are unable to conceive a child.  There are other ways to share the spirit of selfless love that is parenting with the world -- adoption, foster parenting, community involvement, devotion to nieces and nephews, etc.  None of us are allowed to live selfish, self-centered lives because of a lack of children.  Every marriage is a vehicle for God to potentially bless with new life, and must be lived out in that spirit.

For the great majority of marriages, that means children; conceiving and bearing them, and raising them in a loving household.  This requires stability, which is why marriage is a life-long commitment.  Marriage creates a new family, and the family is the basic building block of human society.  Families make the culture, not the other way around.  Governments are established to protect and serve families, not vice versa.  But marriage and the family are under attack in a very real way in our society.

It began back in the 1930s when the Anglican church decided to allow, with limitations, the use of contraception.  Their decision -- the first time any Christian body had allowed contraception for any reason -- said that it was permissible, only within marriage, and only for grave reasons.  But contraception is an evil, and once it had its foot in the door, it was not long before it came all the way in.  Now, contraception is considered "smart and safe" in our culture, the "responsible thing to do," and the Catholic Church alone stands as the only Christian body who continues to oppose it.

What does this have to do with marriage?  Marriage, sex, and children have always been considered part of the same one good.  They could not be separated, for they belonged to one another.  The acceptance of contraception started to divide them.  People started to see sex as something one could enjoy without children.  And if one could enjoy sex without worrying about children, there was no real need for the lifelong commitment of marriage.  These three aspects of the same reality started to be treated as interdependent and unrelated pursuits.

No fault divorce soon became common in our culture.  Abortion was demanded as a back-up for when contraception failed.  Sex is no longer seen as something one must wait until marriage to enjoy, but something which should be tried out before marriage (like taking a car for a test drive).  Children?  Only if you want them, and only when you are ready.

Today one can have sex with no children (and indeed children without sex), sex without marriage, marriage without children, and children without marriage, and we are taught to view each option as an equally valid choice.

The end result is that today in America 51% of all new births are out of wedlock.  For the first time in our history more children are born to unmarried parents than to married parents.  How many of those children will never know their father, or see him only every other weekend?  More than half of all marriages end in divorce, with multiple marriages being far too common - even expected.  The birthrate in many western nations is falling below replacement level, which means the population in most European countries is actually shrinking.  The only factor keeping American births above replacement level are minority birthrates, which are higher than for whites.

And now, more and more people -- Catholics included -- no longer believe that gender has any bearing on marriage, and people of the same gender should be free to enter into marriage just as a man and a woman.  This is advocated for under the banner of fairness and equality, but it is only conceivable today because our culture has lost sight of what marriage truly is.

Today, we celebrate the Holy Family.  Mary and Joseph were married for the explicit purpose of raising a child.  Their marriage was devoted to their son, the Son of God, our Savior.  They were devoted to each other and to Him.  He was obedient to his mother and father.  This is the model family for us.  Please join me today in praying for the intercession of the Holy Family, for the healing of families in our world today.  And pray that Christians would have the courage of St. Stephen, and St. Thomas Becket, whose martyrdom we celebrated on Dec. 29, to stand up for our faith and convictions; to stand up for the family.

Please also say a prayer for my wife and I, who started our own family on this day twelve years ago, as we entered the sacrament of marriage.  She has been like a fruitful vine in my home, and given me children like olive plants around our table (Ps 128).  I am a blessed man, and give thanks to God each day for the family He has given me.

God bless, everyone!  And Merry Christmas!

--



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

THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT (C)

click here for readings

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice.  Indeed, the Lord is near.

Today is the third Sunday of Advent, traditionally known as Gaudete Sunday.  Gaudete is Latin for "rejoice," and the name comes from the opening word of the Entrance Antiphon of today's Mass.  Gaudete in Domino semper: iterum dico, gaudete.  Dominus enim prope est.  Which means, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice.  Indeed, the Lord is near."

This joyful theme is repeated in today's readings.  In the first reading from Zephaniah (Zep 3:14-18a) we are told, "Shout for joy, O daughter Zion!  Sing joyfully, O Israel! ... The Lord, your God, is in your midst."

In our responsorial psalm today we acclaim, "Cry out with joy and gladness, for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel."

In our second reading (Phil 4:4-7), St. Paul says, "Rejoice in the Lord always.  I shall say it again: rejoice! ...  The Lord is near."

Today is a festive day indeed.  In the penitential season of Advent, a season of preparation, we pause and express our great joy and excitement for we know that the one we are preparing for is just around the corner.  His arrival is imminent.   In today's world, it is as if a family member you have not seen in a very long time sends you a text message saying, "the plane just landed, I'll be home soon."  His arrival is closer to being a reality.  It changes from something you simply long and hope for, to something you can actually see on the horizon.  Excitement and anxiety builds.  Last minute preparations are made.

What last minute preparations do we need to make for Christ's arrival?  That is the question put to John the Baptist in today's gospel (Lk 3:10-18).  His answer seems simple. If you have two cloaks, share with the person who has none.  To the tax collectors, he tells them to stop taking more from the people than the law asks for.  To soldiers, stop extorting people.  In other words, behave yourself.  These are lessons parents teach their children: share, be fair, play nice.  

The heart of John's message is this: be generous; be selfless; think of others before yourself.  Be satisfied with what you have.  

We prepare for Christ's coming by "being on our best behavior" because, as John describes it, Jesus is coming to clean house.  "His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

One may find it a bit unusual to read about burning in unquenchable fire on a Sunday that is supposed to be about rejoicing.  How is eternal punishment joyful?

We rejoice because we can avoid that fate.  This is John's message.  Repent, ask for forgiveness, and change your selfish ways.  Begin living for others, and you may save your own life.  For those suffering from oppression, hardship, and injustice, the coming Reign of Christ is indeed a cause for rejoicing, for all will be set right.  The wicked shall be punished, while the lowly and righteous shall be exalted.  

For those whose hearts are turned to God, today is a day for rejoicing.  St. Paul's tells us to have no anxiety at all.  In everything, give thanks to God.  "Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

John the Baptist tells the soldiers to be happy with their wages. St. Paul tells us to be thankful in all things.  Can we make those sentiments a reality in our lives?  As children, we look forward to Christmas often with more anticipation about the new toys we expect to get, than excitement over the birth of Christ.  Suddenly the games and gadgets we already have look tired and old.  They fail to satisfy us; we long for the new toys that Santa will bring.  Even as adults we are groomed by society to feel a certain amount of dissatisfaction this time of year.  As the year draws to a close we are expected to make "New Year's Resolutions" and think about how we can make things better for ourselves.  I want to get a raise next year.  I want to loose weight.  I want to make better grades.  

Improving ourselves is a noble goal, of course.  But the biggest improvement we can make is to be thankful for what we have now.  Do we recognize the gifts God has already given us in our lives?  Are we satisfied with them?  If we are, then, like St. Paul, we need feel no anxiety.  We know we are being cared for.  We know we are beloved of God.

So today, be joyful.  Be calm.  Be thankful.  And stand ready to accept the gift of God's peace that He longs to give you.  The Lord is near.  Gaudete!

--

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

SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT (C)

click here for readings

And this is my prayer: that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ...  Phil 1:9-10

What do you want for Christmas?  That's what everyone asks this time of year, as we prepare for our holiday gift giving.  But among all of our holiday preparations, are we preparing ourselves to receive the only gift that matters?

In today's Gospel reading we encounter the figure of John the Baptist, whose role as the last great prophet was to prepare the people of Israel to receive Christ.  "Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.  Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low.  The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God" (Lk3:5-6).

Christ did not come to straighten out the hair pin curves on 107 between Cullowhee and Cashiers.  When John the Baptist is talking about making winding roads straight and filling in the valleys, he is talking about the roads and valleys of the human soul.  Are we prepared to receive Christ?  John may have been speaking to first century Jews at the time, but the message is still pertinent to us today.  Are we ready to receive Him?

I don't think the answer to that question can be a simple yes or no.  Preparing the way of the Lord in our hearts is not a one-time event, some activity we can do and then have it over with.  If we are not prepared, we need to get prepared.  And if we feel we are prepared for Him, we still need to continue working on it, making sure we stay that way.  It is an ongoing process.

I really like St. Paul's prayer in the second reading today, from his letter to the Philippians.  His prayer is that they may be prepared for "the day of Christ," which is to say His Second Coming.  He wants them to be pure and blameless when they meet Christ.  And the path he maps out for them is to increase in love, which will lead to more knowledge and better perception.  This love, knowledge, and perception will then allow them to "discern what is of value."

Discernment is a crucial aspect of our lives as Christians that often gets neglected.  Do we actively try to discern what is of value in our daily lives?  We participate in, and are influenced by so much each day.  Just think about what you see on Facebook, Youtube, on Pinterest, your email, your favorite blogs, television, what you hear on the radio, from your friends, your family, your professors, magazines, billboards, newspapers, movies, the list goes on and on.  Even beyond the media and the people in our lives, the general culture influences us.  From campus to the coffee shop, to the mall and museums, everything around us potentially molds and shapes our perceptions and thoughts.  

In the midst of all of this, we Christians have a great measure -- and that is Christ himself.  We have our very Maker, God Incarnate, Emmanuel (God is with us), the one who proclaimed boldly not the have the truth but to BE the Truth.  He is the way, the truth and the life.  He says, "Be not afraid," and also, "Come, follow me."  In Christ, and through His Church, we have a yard stick against which to measure every aspect of our lives.  If we increase in love of Him, as St. Paul prays, our eyes will be open so that we may "discern what is of value" amid everything we see and hear.

This does not, as some might fear, mean rejecting everything in the world.  It does mean, as Paul puts it in another letter, that we should "test everything; retain what is good" (1 Thes 5:21).  Everything can and should be tested against the mind of God, expressed in Christ, through His Church.  If it measures up, we should keep it.  If it fails to pass the test, it should be rejected as false and unworthy.  

This is true for small and large things. Every year around this season I hear some grumbling about "pagan" holiday traditions; things such as Christmas trees, wreathes, kissing under the mistletoe and yule logs are said to be of non-Christian pagan origins and therefore should not be endorsed.  Even the date of Dec. 25 is criticized as being the date of the pagan Roman festival to the God Saturn, celebrating the "Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun."  I say, so what?  We do not know the precise day of the year on which Jesus was born.  It is still an important enough occasion that we wish to celebrate it.  If people were used to celebrating the birthday of the Unconquerable Sun on Dec. 25, let's test that and retain what is good.  We retain the festival, the celebration, the joyful spirit; we reject the false Sun god and instead embrace the true Unconquerable Son, the Rising Star, Jesus Christ.  

The instruction to test everything and discern what is of value is even more important in our personal lives.  In choosing what it is we allow into our homes and into our minds, are we being discerning?  Are we testing everything against Christ and his love?  In choosing what we watch, what we read, the music we listen to; even the food we eat; even the friends we associate with; are we testing these things against what we know to be true in Christ? 

Only be doing so, by making Christ our rule and measure, can we begin to prepare the way for Him in our hearts, making straight the winding paths of our soul, and filling in the valleys.  The truly mystical thing about it all is that we need Christ in order to do this.  In order to prepare ourselves to receive Him worthily, we need to let Him into our hearts right now, as we are.  Christ is the end of the journey, but He is also the beginning.  He is the Alpha and the Omega.  He is the source and the summit.  He is the true Christmas gift.

--

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-THIRD SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME (B)

click here for readings

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

Join our FACEBOOK Group!

From WCU: Gospel for Today

THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME (B)

click here for readings

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!

From WCU: Gospel For Today

THIRTIETH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME (B)

click here for readings

Today's gospel reading from Mark brings us the story of Bartimaeus, the blind man who encountered Jesus on the road outside of Jericho.  Bartimaeus calls out for pity and so Jesus summons him.  And then our Lord asks a very important question.  "What do you want me to do for you?"

My question to you this day is this:  Why?  Why did Jesus ask this question?

In one regard, it seems a rather ridiculous thing to ask.  If this scene were being replayed as a modern day sketch comedy, one could envision Bartimaeus (or "Barty" as he would no doubt be called), pointing to his eyes and saying, "Hello!  Blind man here!  What do you think I want you to do?"

But considered on a more theological level, the question still seems a bit pointless.  After all, Jesus is the Son of God.  He is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, all-knowing, all-seeing, and all that.  Wouldn't he know good and well what Bartimaeus wanted of him?  Is he just making this poor blind man go through the motions to restore his sight?  What is the purpose of the question?

I ask you to consider this: It is not for Jesus' benefit that he asks this.  Of course, as God Incarnate, Christ already knows the answer.  So if we concede that Jesus does not ask this for his own benefit, then he must be asking for Bartimaeus' benefit.  Jesus asks him, "What do you want me to do for you?" 

Bartimaeus responds with a plea.  "Master, I want to see."

Upon hearing this, Jesus tells him, "Go your way.  Your faith has saved you."  Bartimaeus' simple words, "Master, I want to see," was an expression of his faith in Jesus.  It expressed his faith that Jesus was the Christ, that Jesus possessed the power and authority to heal him, and trust that he would do so.  Jesus asked the question, "What do you want me to do for you?" in order that Bartimaeus might have the opportunity to express his saving faith.

There is a lesson here for us in our prayer life.  How many times have you struggled with prayer, because you don't quite see the point?  How many times have you asked yourself, why bother asking God for help?  He knows I need help already.  He knows what is best for me.  What are my prayers going to do to change that?  

How many times have you put off going to Confession, telling yourself that God already knows you are sorry.  He knows what is in your heart.  Why bother saying it?

Just like Bartimaeus' answer to Christ in today's Gospel, we do not do these things because God needs us to do them, but because we need to do them.  God does not want us to come to him in prayer for his benefit, but for ours.  We need to say the words.  We need to say, "Father, I need you."  We need to say, "Father, please help me."  We need to say, "Father, I am sorry."  We need to give expression to our thoughts, dreams, sorrows, struggles, joys and repentance.  

As a father myself, I know that when I have caught my children doing something wrong, part of the resolution that I seek is hearing them admit, in their own words, that they have done wrong and are sorry.  As a father, I know what's best for my children, but when they have wants and desires, I still want them to come to me and ask for those things.  Sometimes the answer may be "no," or "not now," but I still want them to feel comfortable approaching me to ask.  

God is Father to all of us.  We are all his children.  He wants us to communicate with him, to bring him our needs, to express our repentance and regrets, and to express our love.  He wants to hear us say the words, not because he does not already know the content of our hearts, but he wants us to know ourselves, as well.  

Pray.  Pray every day.  It's good for you.  And if you don't know where to start, you can begin with the simple plea of Bartimaeus.  "Master, I want to see."

--

WCU Catholic Campus Ministry

Matthew Newsome, MTh, campus minister

www.WCUCatholic.org

  

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

Join our FACEBOOK Group!