Jesus, healer of our souls

Readings: Job 7:1-4.6-7; Ps 147:1-6; 1 Cor 16-19.22-23; Mark 1:29-39

In our first reading for this Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Job expresses several things that make him our contemporary. Job is surely brokenhearted. He is brokenhearted as the result of what happened to him- his ten children all died, he lost all of his wealth, and was afflicted from head to foot with sores. The way I see it, Job is not so much complaining here, but is simply describing his life as he sees it from the point-of-view of someone, formerly prosperous, who is now mired in great suffering.

While his physical affliction surely plays a part, this does not seem to be what Job is most concerned about in this passage. He seems to be losing hope. Loss of hope is called despair. We know, from having read the Book of Job in its entirety, that Job never gives in completely to despair (though he is, understandably, tempted to do so). He continues to trust in God. Rather than meaning "to wish," the theological virtue of hope, which is the flower of faith, means "to trust," specifically, to trust in God. Such trust is particularly crucial when we do not see how, or maybe even doubt that God is able, to bring us safely through our suffering, pain, loss, and most especially, our grappling with death.

From a Christian theological perspective, death is not a natural part of life. On the contrary, it is a horrendous disjunction. We will all die, each and every one of us, no doubt about it. Does this cause you to despair, or to trust, or merely to wish- seeing the promise of eternal life as nice, but unlikely?

As our Psalm response bids us, we "Praise the Lord, who heals the brokenhearted." What is the remedy for that which ails us, namely death? For our answer we turn to what St Paul wrote in his First Letter to the Corinthians: the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Paul, like anyone who is called to preach the Gospel, is eager to be a messenger of hope to those in despair, which is why, "To the weak [he] became weak, to win over the weak." He endeavored to "become all things to all, to save at least some." To those of us who have hope, which, like faith, is a theological virtue, meaning it is a gift from God, not something we deserve or earn, we, like Paul, feel the urgency to share the Gospel with people who live in an often despair-inducing world. Sharing the Gospel, being evangelizers, is where Jesus' two great commandments, to love God with our whole being and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, most profoundly come together.

Peter's mother-in-law, whose name we never learn, is a perfect example of what I tried to describe above. Jesus heals her, cures her of whatever caused her to lay in bed sick with a fever. Once healed, she served. Selflessly serving others is the best way to evangelize. We're all familiar with the over-used quip, attributed to St Francis of Assisi: "Preach the Gospel, if necessary use words." We need to be careful, however, not to use to this saying as an excuse to avoid telling others about Jesus, about the Good News, Who alone gives true hope. After all, St Francis himself preached, which is the only reason he was likely ordained a deacon.

The beginning of our Gospel today is a simpler and far more condensed version of what happened to St Paul. If we have received the healing Jesus offers us time and again, especially in and through the Eucharist, then our lives should bear some resemblance to this pattern.

The ultimate healing is yet to come- resurrection unto life eternal. Whether this is your hope, or merely a wish you do not really put much stock in, is born out by how you live.

"Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight"

It's difficult to believe that the first week of February is nearly over. It seems impossible to me that it's time to post another traditio. This week, again, I am sticking with posting a contemporary Christian song, well, a contemporary version of ancient Christian song that was contemporary in the 8th century. It's no exaggeration to point out that Michael Card's music, over the years, has given me much spiritual succor and strength.

Our traditio for this First Friday of February (quite alliterative) is Michael Card singing the lovely hymn, "Be Thou My Vision" from his wonderful album Starkindler. It is reckoned that this Celtic hymn (originally Rob tu mo bhoile, a Com­di cri­de) was composed all the way back in the 8th century by Dal­lan For­gaill. It was trans­lat­ed from an­cient Ir­ish into Eng­lish in 1905 by Ma­ry Byrne, in Eriú, Jour­nal of the School of Ir­ish Learn­ing. It was set to verse by El­ea­nor Hull around 1912.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art

"If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts"

Readings: Deut 18:15-20; Ps 951-2.6-9; 1 Cor 7:32-35; Mark 1:21-28

In the Letter of James, immediately following the exposition on the necessary relationship between faith and works, we read: "You believe that God is one. You do well. Even the demons believe that and tremble" (2:19). I can't think of a more succinct way of summarizing what we hear in today's Gospel reading for this Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time. In this reading from the first chapter of Mark's Gospel we see Jesus giving an outward demonstration of His authority, which was made clearly manifest in His teaching at the synagogue in Capernaum that sabbath day. He did this by casting an unclean spirit out of a man through whom this spirit spoke words of recognition and fear.

Once again, this is not a case of Jesus healing a man who was mentally ill. It is a record of Jesus casting out a demon. Paired with our first reading from Deuteronomy, this shows that Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecy attributed to Moses: "A prophet like me will the LORD, your God, raise up for you from among your own kindred; that is the one to whom you shall listen" (Deut 18:15). Jesus demonstrated His authority on a number of occasions by performing signs and wonders. His own attitude, as far I an tell, towards the signs and wonders He performed was ambivalent at best.

Jesus healing the demon-possessed man in the synagogue at Capernaum, by James Tissot

"Anyone who will not listen to my words which the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will hold accountable for it" (Deut 18:19). In the account of the Lord's Transfiguration given in St Mark's Gospel, after the appearance of Moses and Elijah, indicating that Jesus is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets, a cloud overshadowed Peter, James, and John. They heard the voice of the Father saying, "This is my beloved Son. Listen to him" (Mark 9:7).

Merely believing that Jesus Christ is Messiah, Savior, and Lord doesn't get you any farther than it did the unclean spirit that day in Capernaum. In fact, like the demon, such a recognition can be a source of fear and anxiety. This is not what He wants for us. What is lacking, then? You need to hear Him, to listen to Him, and respond in trust to what He says. You can do this in the confidence that His grace will help you respond and His mercy attend you when you fail.

With that in mind, What is Jesus saying to you? How is He calling you to more faithfully follow Him? Do you take time to listen so that you may hear Him speaking to you by means of His Holy Spirit? When you hear the voice of Jesus, listen and do not, harden your heart.

"The Lord always saves his people"

In a homily he delivered yesterday (29 January) at the Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis reminded us of something very important pertaining to salvation, a distinction that creates a dialectical tension:

It’s true, Jesus has saved us all, but not in a general fashion. All of us, each one with their name and surname. And this is our personal salvation. I am truly saved, the Lord looked at me, gave his life for me, opened this door, this new life for me and each of us can say ‘For me.’ But there’s a danger of forgetting that He saved us individually but at the same time as part of his people or community. His people. The Lord always saves his people. From the moment he calls Abraham and promises to make them his people. And the Lord saves us as part of this community. That’s why the writer of this Letter (to the Hebrews) tells us: ‘Let us be concerned for each other.’ There is no salvation solely for me. If that’s the way I understand salvation, I’m mistaken and going along the wrong path. The privatization of salvation is the wrong path

It seems to me that we always introduce a dangerous distortion when we make false dichotomies, making things falsely either/or instead of both/and.

Here's a question that occurred to me in light of the Holy Father’s insight- Is the door of new life Christ opens for me, the door of the Church? If the best definition of grace is God sharing divine life with us, then that seems like a good answer. The life of God, who is Father, Son, and Spirit is triune, communal. God is communion of persons, albeit divine persons. The Church is also a communion of persons, if sometimes all too human persons, but people in the middle of our sanctification. It is impossible to achieve sanctification on our own. As God shows us - one person is no person.

I read something in Christianity Today earlier this week by Anglican theologian Alister McGrath- “Why Knowing About Jesus Is Not Enough: The day reading Philppians revealed to me a deeper knowledge.” McGrath shares an experience he had as new believer. Experiencing some inner turmoil, he retired to a quiet place and, on the advice of a friend, read the four short chapters that comprise St Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. Among the insights he gained that day was importance of belonging to the Church. The passage that prompted this revelation was Philippians 3:20, which conveys “our citizenship is in heaven.” Part of what McGrath grasped that day was, “The church is a community of believers, an outpost of heaven on earth, a place in which a ‘spirit of grace’ (Zech. 12:10) dwells. Just as the Romans at Philippi spoke the language and kept the laws of Rome, so we observe the customs and values of heaven. As Christians, we live in two worlds and must learn to navigate both while ultimately being faithful to our homeland.”

The Gospel, the good news that is Jesus Christ, is both personal and social at the same time, unavoidably and indispensably so. For example, personal sexual morality (i.e., chastity, or lack of it) impacts society at large. Nothing brings this home more than the nuclear effects of the so-called “sexual revolution” on Western society. That the Gospel is both personal and social simultaneously is demonstrated powerfully in what I have termed the “triptych” of the unique papal magisterium of Bl Pope Paul VI, which consists of his encyclicals Populorum progresso and Humanae Vitae, along with his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi.

It is no accident that is was Pope Francis who beatified Pope Paul VI, who called Pope Paul “great,” and who refers to him often. The three documents that constitute the triptych of Paul VI’s magisterium demonstrate that the Gospel of Jesus Christ cannot be reduced to an ideology, including an agnostic humanism. Pope Francis himself is vehemently anti-ideological, as so many of his words and gestures demonstrate. Most recently he demonstrated this during his in-flight press conference on his return to Rome from his Apostolic Visit to the Philippines, when he denounced the death-dealing Malthusianism that Paul VI so clearly recognized (along with many other trends antithetical to the Gospel) in Humanae Vitae. To undertake to fully live the good news is to oppose the ideologies of the world. This is how remain “faithful to our homeland.”

"The disease of the self runs through my blood"

For our traditio today we stay in the realm of contemporary Christian music (CCM). There is perhaps no genre of music that is more pilloried than that of contemporary Christian. Given the vastness of CCM and some of the really terrible tunes it produces, this is understandable. But then isn't that true of virtually any genre of music? People are often fond of pointing to an episode of King of the Hill ("Reborn to be Wild") in which Hank Hill, confronts a "totally rad" guitarist for a local Christian rock group, observing: "Can't you see you're not making Christianity better, you're just making rock and roll worse?" It's a funny episode and a great line, one that made me laugh when I watched it. However, it is not an undercutting argument against CCM in its entirety. In fact, this is not even the point the episode seeks to make, really.

What Mike Judge, a very wry cultural commentator and the creator and force behind King of the Hill (also Beavis and Butthead) really took aim at was something Andrew Root addressed in a recent article for Christianity Today, "Why Your Millennial Outreach Needs a Bit of Bonhoeffer: Millennial anxiety sabotages attempts to engage the next generation. Dietrich explains why."

Bonhoeffer said youth ministry is first and foremost a theological task. It is not a sociological or cultural task or a church growth strategy. Of course, there are sociological and cultural factors to consider when ministering to youth. But Bonhoeffer would argue that youth ministry is first and foremost about the encounter of the divine with the human.

Again, who could disagree? Except that youth ministry today often puts theology on a back burner. Youth ministry in North America became full blown after a youth consumer culture emerged in the 1950s, and took shape in response to the mid-’60s youth countercultural movement. The binding of the counterculture youth movement with a consumer society (see Thomas Frank’s book The Conquest of Cool) has embedded a “youthful spirit” deep within our cultural consciousness

Being a Christian is about nothing apart from being a disciple of Jesus Christ, that is, someone who endeavors to live in communion with Him and form his/her being by trying live life according His teachings, no matter if you are 15 or 95. In the First Letter of John we read: "If we say, 'We have fellowship with him,' while we continue to walk in darkness, we lie and do not act in truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin" (1:6-7).

While the DC Talk version of this song may be more familiar to those acquainted with CCM, Charlie Peacock, one of my favorite Christian music artists, wrote the song and our traditio is him performing it brilliantly:

Charlie was also featured in a previous Καθολικός διάκονος Friday traditio- "Living in front of God."

The acknowledged differences of Mormonism

As someone who grew up as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (i.e., Mormon) and who, as a young adult, converted and became Catholic, I try not make this on-line endeavor a Mormon apologetics forum. In truth, there are enough of those, even good ones, who do an effective job. However, as a former Mormon who still lives in Utah and who keeps his finger on the pulse of contemporary Mormonism, I think (hope) it's valuable from time-to-time to offer my unique perspective on matters concerning Mormonism.

Until Gordon B. Hinckley became president of the Mormon church in 1995, Mormons focused almost exclusively on what makes them different, unique, and preferable to what we might call historic Christianity in any and all of its forms (i.e., Catholicism, Orthodoxy, or all strands and strains of Protestantism). At root, this focus revolves around some very foundational Mormon claims, particularly what they call "The Great Apostasy." According to Mormons, sometime shortly after the end of the apostolic age, the Church founded by Christ and His apostles deviated from true Christianity. These deviations, over time, continued to grow deeper and deeper, as well as to multiply in number.

Of course the Mormon belief in The Great Apostasy presumes almost utter ignorance of the early Church Fathers, especially the so-called Apostolic Fathers, men such as Polycarp of Smyrna, Ignatius of Antioch, Clement of Rome, Papias of Hieropolis, not to mention documents like the Didaché and the Shepherd of Hermas, as well as Ireneaus of Lyons, Justin Martyr, etc. It also requires a fairly superficial reading of several of St Paul's letters. While, according to this view, there were attempts here and there, such as the Protestant reformation, to restore authentic Christianity, the true Church established by Christ and the Apostles was absent from the earth.

From the Mormon perspective it was Joseph Smith Jr. who restored the true Church after it having been absent from the earth for the vast majority of time between Christ's coming and the nineteenth century. For the past twenty years, however, Mormons have focused more on insisting that they are Christians, like Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans, Anglicans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, etc. So it is refreshing these days when someone in leadership in the Mormon Church, someone who is what they call a "General Authority" (i.e, a member of the First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, First and Second Quorums of the Seventy, or the Presiding Bishopric) sets about to tell the truth about Mormon distinctiveness vis-à-vis historic Christianity. So I appreciated very much reading a brief article in the Mormon Church-owned Deseret News about a presentation given earlier this month by Bishop Gérald Caussé, who serves as Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, to new Mormon mission presidents and visitor center directors.

Temple Square statue of Joseph Smith, Jr. and Oliver Cowdrey receiving the Melchezidek priesthood from Peter, James, and John, who they claimed appeared to them as resurrected beings

The bottom-line-up-front comes from the end of the article: "Investigators [those considering becoming Mormons and being taught by proseltyzing missionaries] must understand that a universal apostasy occurred after the deaths of Christ and His apostles; otherwise, there would have been no need for a Restoration." This dovetails nicely with the beginning of the article, which cites Caussé as insisting that "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not just another Christian Church, but rather it has unique elements that are essential to the salvation of mankind." In between Caussé is reported as teaching that there are "three essential truths conveyed in three major events associated with the Restoration." First, "the vision of the Father and the Son experienced by the Prophet Joseph Smith in the spring of 1820" (see "Latter-day quandry and resolution"). Second, "the translation of the Book of Mormon." Third, "the restoration of priesthood keys and ordinances by heavenly messengers."

I don't post this to be contentious or even really to argue, but simply to demonstrate, prior to any subsequent discussion, the objective differences between Mormonism and Christianity as handed on and practiced throughout its history. I think it's terribly important to be honest and forthright about our objective differences. Such honesty is the only way to have meaningful interaction. There certainly are points of contention and disagreement among Christians. But when compared to our collective differences with Mormonism, these differences (i.e., the nature and structure of the Church, authority of the Church, sources of revelation- Scripture only, or Scripture and Tradition?- sacraments, justification, the relationship between faith and works, etc.) are quite narrow.

Among Christians Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant there is no dispute about the triune nature of God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, or that the Holy Bible is what constitutes Scripture (even if some accept the Deutero-canonical books as inspired and some do not), or even that the Church of Christ was given irrevocable authority ("the gates of the netherworld [/hell] shall not prevail against it" Matthew 16:18) to act in the name of Christ, especially as it pertains to baptism, the Lord's supper, and handing on the truth of the Gospel and has existed on the earth since its establishment.

Once again it bears noting that the question, "Are Mormons Christians" is the reddest of herrings. By their own account, Mormons are the only true Christians. This is borne out by the fact that everyone who becomes Mormon must be baptized, even if they were previously baptized "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Spirit," even if s/he was baptized by immersion after having reached the age of reason. Besides in the official account of Joseph Smith Jr's "First Vision," in which God the Father appeared to him in bodily form, thus revealing that even God the Father "has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's" (Doctrine & Covenants 130:22), the Father says these words to Smith in answer to Smith's question about which church he should join: "I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: 'they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof'" (Joseph Smith History v 19).

"The kingdoms of this world will soon before Him fall"

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of food and drink, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the holy Spirit; whoever serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by others. Let us then pursue what leads to peace and to building up one another (Rom 14:17-19)

Our tradito this Friday is Brother Glenn Kaiser singing "We Shall See the King," an old Gospel song about the Lord's return. I selected this not to stoke any sort of weird end-time mania, but to help us focus on God's kingdom today, which we are to be engaged in ushering in because from the first coming of Jesus, to quote N.T. Wright, "the kingdom of God is for earth now."