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
--

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

From WCU: Weekly Update

ALL SAINTS DAY
This Thursday is All Saints Day, which is a holy day of obligation.  The great solemnity of All Saints is, of course, where we get Halloween.  An archaic name for All Saints Day is All Hallows Day (a "hallowed" person being someone holy and revered; we still use this word in the Lord's Prayer, "Hallowed be thy name").  So the night before All Hallows Day is All Hallows Eve, which was contracted to Hallowe'en.  Now, we would think it pretty silly for someone to celebrate Christmas Eve while ignoring Christmas itself.  So let's not get so caught up in celebrating All Hallows Eve that we forget about All Hallows Day.

It has been a custom in the Church from the beginning to honor saints and martyrs with a special feast, usually on the anniversary of their death.  However, it did not take long for there to be more Christian martyrs than there are days in the year.  Especially under some of the early Roman persecutions, many Christians would die together on the same day.  And so joint celebrations for many saints together were quite common.  By the end of the fourth century, many bishops in the Church would mark a day to celebrate all the saints, so that there would not be any deficiency in our remembrances.  This might be celebrated on different days depending on the local church.  In the early eighth century, Pope Gregory III dedicated a chapel in St. Peter's Basilica to All The Saints on November 1.  The anniversary of that date was remembered in Rome, and then about 100 years later Pope Gregory IV extended that celebration to the entire Church.  

It is a wonderful day for us not only to remember and celebrate the faithful departed, but also to rejoice in their victory, and pray for their intercession and support for us as we make our own Christian journey in this life.  Our goal is to be with them, after all, so let's ask their help in getting there!  As I said, it is a holy day of obligation which means, like Sunday, Catholics are obliged to attend Mass if at all possible.

ALL SOULS DAY

November 2 is All Soul's Day.  Similar to All Saints Day, All Soul's Day is a day set aside where we remember all of our departed friends and family, those sainted or not.  We remember their lives, and we also pray for the souls in purgatory.  Prayer for the souls in purgatory is one of the spiritual works of mercy and is something we are all encouraged to do.  The Bible says it is a "holy and pious thought" to pray for the dead (2 Macc 12:44-45).  St. Paul gives us an example to follow when he prays for his dead friend, Onesiphorus (2 Tim. 1:16-18).  So let us offer a special prayer on this day for any in our lives who have died. 

Many parishes keep a "Book of the Dead" by the entrance to the church throughout the month of November.  Those entering the church are invited to inscribe the name of any loved ones who have died during the past year.  The book is kept open, and those people whose names are contained in the book are prayed for throughout the month.

HAVE YOU VOTED?

I'm hearing that a lot of students are taking advantage of early voting.  That's great!  Election Day is almost upon us, so if you haven't made plans to vote, time is running out!  The following information was printed in last week's issue of the Catholic News Herald, our Diocesan weekly newspaper.  I wanted to pass it on, and hope you find it helpful.  

God bless!

Matt

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Voter guides and scorecards

At www.catholicclergy.net/app: The Confraternity of Catholic Clergy, a national association of about 600 priests, religious and deacons, has created the first free "Catholic Voting Guide" mobile app for iOS (iPhone, iPod and iPad), Android and Windows mobile devices. This non-partisan guide focuses on six areas of vital concern for Catholics – the right to life, religious liberty, the sanctity of marriage, private property, access to necessary goods, and war – and is designed to help voters form their consciences and quickly learn more about Church teaching, the values of the Gospel, and natural law before evaluating candidates and heading out to the polls. It draws from the U.S. bishops' "Faithful Citizenship" as well as then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's 2004 letter "Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion" (Links are available to each).

At www.catholic.com/voteyourfaith: Produced by Catholic Answers, this site gives tips on how to evaluate candidates, and explains why the five "non-negotiables" (abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning, and same-sex "marriage") must be weighted higher than "prudential" policy disagreements on such topics as the death penalty, anti-poverty programs, immigration reform, and international policy. Read the PDF online for free, or order print copies for 40 cents each.

At www.frcaction.org/votertools: Produced by FRC Action, the lobbying arm of the Family Resource Council, find national and state candidate "scorecards," endorsements, and more

At www.citizenlinkvoter.com: An affiliate of Focus on the Family, this site details national, state and local races on the November ballot for every state, including easy-to-read questionnaires of each candidate for offive

At www.nrlc.org: Produced by the National Right to Life Committee, check out "scorecards" on the presidential candidates, as well as House and Senate candidates' voting records on life issues.

At www.politicalresponsibility.com: Priests for Life offers guides on the presidential candidates and comparisons of the two parties' platforms

--

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

THIRTIETH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME (B)

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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!

From WCU: Weekly Update

MATT'S MUSINGS

So I like Shock Top beer for its flavor.  But now I have another reason to like them -- they have a pretty cool advertising campaign going on right now.  As I was driving this weekend I saw a billboard of theirs that said, "It's the end of the world.  Live life unfiltered."  I saw that and immediately thought, "Yeah, I want to live my life unfiltered."  And I'm not talking about beer.

Our Catholic faith teaches us that it is the end of the world.  Since the coming of Christ 2000 years ago, we have been living in the end times.  History turned a corner when God became Incarnate and decided to walk around with His creations down here on earth.  Since then we've been living the final chapters of the story.  Now that doesn't mean we think the world will come to an end next week.  The truth is we don't know when it will end.  Even Jesus said that only His Father knew that info!  So it may be tomorrow or it may be ten million years from now.  But we do know one thing for certain  -- the end will come.

And for us, our personal ends may come at any moment.  We may die peacefully in our sleep at the age of 98, or we may die in a car crash this afternoon.  We don't know when our end is coming, but it is coming nonetheless.  We would do well to, then, to live our lives with that in mind and treat each day like it could be our last.  That means really living life to its fullest -- we should live life unfiltered.

You don't need the filter of our modern culture telling you that you need the latest gadget to be happy.  You don't need the filter of movies or tv telling you what "pretty" or "handsome" is supposed to look like, and how you fall short of that ideal.  You don't need the filter of society telling you that you need to have a career before you can marry, or the filter that says two children is more than enough.  

You don't need the filter of selfishness getting between you and true friendship.  You don't need the filter of fear and anxiety keeping you from true greatness.  You don't need the filter of pride keeping you from seeking forgiveness.  You don't need the filter of hatred keeping you from healing.

You don't need that filter that separates out sex from love and marriage and children and family.  You want to see and understand them all as one wonderfully connected reality.  Husbands and wives don't need the filter of contraception preventing their two bodies from becoming one flesh.  

And most of all you don't need whatever filter you have in place that is keeping you from God.  You want to be plugged in, with direct access to His grace.  Open yourself up wide to whatever He has in store for you.  It might be a bit scary, but that's ok.  Trust Him.  You only have one life.  So toss out all these filters and live it with everything you've got.  

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

TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME (B)

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Why do bad things happen to good people?  Or to put it another way, why is there evil in the world?  The "problem of evil" has always been a stumbling block for some in their faith (and has indeed kept many away from faith).  If God exists, and he is all knowing, all powerful, in control, eternal and constant; if he is good and just and merciful as we are told; if he truly is Love -- if all this is true then why does evil exist?  We ask this question every time we hear of people dying in natural disasters on the news, or hear of another terrorist attack in the Middle East.  We ask this question when we suffer a loss in our own lives of a family member or a friend.  We ask this question when someone we love is battling a horrible illness.  We ask it when we have a broken heart.  We ask it whenever we suffer.  

Religions throughout time have battled with this principle question.  Different religions have had their own approaches to it.  There have in the past been many dualistic faiths, believing in two different Gods, one good and one evil, battling it out in a cosmic struggle of which we on this earth are only a small part.  But not Christianity.  We believe in one God, who is Love.  We believe in Satan, yes.  "The devil," who is a fallen angel, Lucifer, and his many fallen angels who serve him.   But he is not a rival god.  He is a creation, and even he and his angels only wreak their havoc by the permissive will of God.  

Why is this so?  Why would God allow evil to come into the world?  It is tempting here to point out that evil came into the world not through God's doing, but through our own.  Adam and Eve had it pretty good in the Garden of Eden until they chose to disobey God's will and eat of the forbidden fruit.  But you have to ask why God permitted the serpent to lurk in the garden, or why he even planted that tree there in the first place!

There is a phrase in Christianity; the "Fortunate Fall," or "Happy Fall."  We hear it in the Easter liturgy.  It sounds like an oxymoron.  How could we describe the Fall -- where sin and evil entered into human existence and became part of our lives -- as happy or fortunate?  The reason lies in the person of Jesus Christ.  "O fortunate fall that won for us so great a savior," as the phrase goes.  If we were not fallen we would have had no need for God to show mercy on us by sending us His Son, and we never would have known Christ.

But there is another meaning behind that phrase.  Having eaten from the Tree of Knowledge, Adam and Eve began to know both good and evil.  From that point on in our human history, evil has been a part of our existence.  It is all around us.  But so, too, is good.  And we have a choice as to which we will allow to reign in our lives.  And because we have the option of evil, our choice for good becomes more meaningful.  After all, there is no heroism in choosing to do good when that is the only choice you can make.  The presence of evil actually elevates the good to a higher level than before.

To put it another way, it makes our love for God real.  I'm sure you have heard the phrase "fair weather friend."  It means someone whose friendship you can only count on in the good times, who won't be there for you in times of trouble or need.  What kind of a friend is that?  Not a good one.  A good friend, a true friend, loves you for who you are, good and bad, and sticks by your side through trials and suffering.

Are we fair weather friends with God?  Do we only love Him when things are going well for us?  If all we experienced in our lives was joy and happiness then we would never know the answer to that.  But that's not how life is.  We all experience suffering at different stages in our lives.  And if we, like Job, continue to love and praise God through suffering, then we know that our love for Him is real.

And so too is His love for us.  And this is where Christianity reveals its beautiful and mystical answer to the "problem of evil."  Many in the Jewish world were waiting on a Messiah who would come and rescue them from all their misery and problems; a Messiah who would make all their pain go away.  But that's not how God chose to do things.  His plan was much more loving.  Jesus came not to abolish suffering, but to suffer with us.

From today's first reading (Is 53:10-11):  "[T]hrough his suffering, my servant shall justify may, and their guilt he shall bear."

From the second reading (Heb 4:14-16):  "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way..."

And from the Gospel (Mk 10:35-45):  "For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Jesus asks James and John in that same Gospel passage if they can drink the cup he has to drink, or be baptized with his baptism.  He is referring to his passion on the cross.  We think of "passion" today in terms of romance, but the word actually means to suffer (which those of you with experience of romance no doubt can appreciate).  And so the word compassion actually means "to suffer with."  

God sent His Son to have compassion -- to suffer with us.  And so we are called to have compassion with Christ.  We must accept the invitation he made to James and John and drink from his cup.  Through our baptism we are united in Christ's suffering and death.  And so as Christians, any time we suffer, we know that pain and hardship is linked forever with the suffering of Christ.  It becomes a redemptive suffering.  It burns away the punishment due to our sins, it makes us holier people, and draws us closer to God, if we allow it.  

We have a King who is a servant.  We have a Lord who is Love.  We have a Savior who suffers with us.  Through all the trials in our life, our compassionate God is by our side.  

From WCU - Gospel For Today

TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME (B)

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Our first reading today is from the book of Wisdom.  This text is intriguing because of the way it speaks about Wisdom as a person, rather than a trait to obtain.  Traditionally, the Church has understood Wisdom to be another name for the Holy Spirit.  So when we hear today's reading, when we hear "wisdom" we should think "Holy Spirit," which is to say God Himself.

I pleaded, and the spirit of wisdom came to me.  I preferred her to scepter and throne, and deemed riches nothing in comparison with her...  Beyond health and comeliness I loved her... Yet all good things together came to me in her company, and countless riches at her hands.

The message in this passage is clear.  One should prefer the wisdom of God above any earthly joy, whether that be riches, or beauty, or even our health.  But there is a surprise twist at the end -- if we do value God above all these earthly treasures, we will actually get those treasures as a reward!  We will receive "all good things" and "countless riches."  Sounds good to me!

But is it as simple as all of that?  Is that the actual meaning of this passage?  That interpretation sounds very much like a pseudo-theology popular among some evangelical and charismatic Protestants called the "Prosperity Gospel."  It has its roots in the 1950s revival movement, but really became popular after it was adopted by televangelists in the 1980s and by the early years of this century it was being preached by many evangelical missionaries.  If you google "prosperity gospel" or "prosperity theology" you will find many articles about it -- and many articles about why it is so wrong.

The message of the "Prosperity Gospel" movement is relatively simple; obey God's will, live a good, moral, upright Christian life, and you will have success, riches, health and prosperity.  In short, "all good things," and "countless riches" as the book of Wisdom says this morning.  Like most heresies, there is just enough truth in this teaching to make it attractive.

The truth, as taught by the Catholic Church, is that the underlying goal of our moral life is to achieve happiness.  If we live moral lives and follow God's law, we can achieve a natural happiness in this world.  And aided by God's grace, through the Sacraments, we can even hope to achieve supernatural and eternal happiness in the next world.  This is the goal and purpose of our lives.  God did not create the moral law arbitrarily.  He is the author of our beings, he made us a certain way, and he knows what is best for us.  The moral law, as taught by the Catholic Church, is rooted in our human nature.  It's like an operator's guide to being human.  So it is only reasonable to expect that if we live good moral lives that we'll have an easier time of things.  We'll avoid certain troubles, live happier lives in general, and draw closer to God.

But that's not the same as saying we will be wealthy, successful in business, beautiful and healthy.  It does not mean we will never have troubles, suffering or sorrows.  It certainly does not mean we will never know pain.  Just look at the example of Jesus Christ.  No one has ever followed God's will more perfectly, and yet no one has ever suffered so much.  Does this mean the book of Wisdom is wrong?  Not at all.  For one who truly values God's wisdom above all earthly treasure will no doubt feel that "all good things" have come to them, even if they do not have a penny to their name.  This is because that person rightly understands that earthly possessions are not the highest good.

Look at today's Gospel reading from Mark.  Imagine yourself in the position of this man who approached Jesus.  You have followed the commandments of God all your life.  And you have benefited from it. Indeed, you can describe yourself as having "countless riches" like the author of Wisdom.  

You discover Jesus, the Messiah, walking down the road and so you run to him and ask him, face to face, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?"  

And then, you are truly blessed, because the Lord Himself looks at you and instructs you that all you have to do to gain eternal life is one simple thing.  Just one thing.  "Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor... then come, follow me."  

At these words your heart breaks.  You cast your eyes downward and sadly walk away from Jesus.  Because you cannot bring yourself to do it.  You value your riches far too much, even more than you value eternal life.  You may have been following God's commandments all your life.  But you lack his wisdom -- even when it's staring you in the face.

What is the ultimate good?  What is the source of eternal happiness?  Only God Himself.  We find some measure of joy in earthly pleasures, and that is fine.  God made them for us, and he made us to enjoy them, so it is good that we do.  The mistake is to confuse these earthly gifts with the Giver.  We call them "goods" only because they reflect God's goodness.  But, as Jesus says in the Gospel today, "No one is good but God alone."  When we come to understand this, we would give up any amount of these finite goods in order to obtain the infinite good of eternal life with God.

When we possess God -- which is to say, when we allow God to fully possess us -- then we can enjoy the earthly goods that we have in a healthy and proportionate way.  And more importantly, like the psalmist, we can even learn to be be glad "for the days when you afflicted us, for the years when we saw evil."  For times of trial and suffering can themselves bring us closer to God, and therefore we should give thanks for the hard times, as well.

This is true wisdom.  When we value the Love of God above all things, we learn to see all things through the lens of his love.  We give thanks to him for the good times in our lives and the successes we have.  And we can endure the sufferings that befall us because we know that through it all we have a loving Father who will give us the strength needed to overcome.  Even if we lose everything we have in this life, we still bless the Father's name for we know no one and nothing can separate us from the treasures he has prepared for us in heaven, as long as we stay true to him.  

God bless, and have a wonderful Fall Break.

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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