Author: Fr. John

The podcast can be found here.

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If you are a fan of science-fiction or fantasy novels, you may be familiar with the author Robert Paul “Tad” Williams.  If you are not a fan of science-fiction or fantasy novels, then know that he is an international best selling author.  He has written a few series and one of them, Otherland, is a four book series.  All four of these books were dedicated to his father; however, his father, like some of you is apparently not a fan of science-fiction.

The inscription in book one (1996): “This Book is dedicated to my father Joseph Hill Evans with love. Actually Dad doesn’t read fiction, so if someone doesn’t tell him about this, he’ll never know.”

Book two (1998): “This Book is dedicated to my father Joseph Hill Evans with love. As I said before, Dad doesn’t read fiction. He still hasn’t noticed that this thing is dedicated to him. This is Volume Two – let’s see how many more until he catches on.”

Book three (1999): “This is still dedicated to you-know-who, even if he doesn’t.  Maybe we can keep this a secret all the way to the final volume.”

Book four (2001): “My father still hasn’t actually cracked any of the books – so, no, he still hasn’t noticed. I think I’m just going to have to tell him. Maybe I should break it to him gently. Everyone here who hasn’t had a book dedicated to them, take three steps forward. Whoops, Dad, hang on there for a second…”

From 1996 to 2001—five years—Dad did not crack one of his son’s books to see the dedication.  My recommendation, if someone you know publishes a book, take a few minutes and at least flip through it.  You never know.  Now, and don’t let this sting too much, but as astonishing as that story is, what is even more astonishing is that I know Christians who haven’t seen the inside of a Bible in the last five years—if not longer.  So today, and I don’t know if this is technically a sermon or not, I want to encourage you to do more with your Bible than just dust if off when you think I might be stopping by.

So, how do we begin?  My friend Thomas à Kempis writes, “Our curiosity often impedes our reading of the Scriptures, when we wish to understand and mull over what we ought simply to read and pass by.  If you would profit from it, therefore, read with humility, simplicity, and faith, and never seek a reputation for being learned.”

That is truth.  There are many mysteries contained within the words of Holy Scriptures and many of those mysteries are without answers.  Take for example, within the book of Daniel, there is a passage known as the Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks.  It speaks of sixty-two weeks here, desolation, a week of a covenant, a half week following where sacrifices cease, and so on.  It is fascinating.  People drown in this, seeking to know what it means and how to apply it to today, going as far as to predict the day of Jesus’ second coming.  As Brother Thomas pointed out, their curiosity at delving the mystery impedes them from seeing what God has revealed; therefore, we should read and know these passages, and then feel confident in moving on, knowing that God will reveal the meaning behind such passages when he chooses.  But there is a difference between something that is a mystery to us all that should be read with simplicity and faith, and a mystery or passage that can be understood with a bit of study.  And don’t say, “Oh, study!  That’s what we hired you for Fr. John.”  Nope.  That’s not how it works.  As we read today, even the disciples had to study and have tutoring lessons: Jesus only taught in “parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.”

Just using the first parable, I want to show you what a bit of study can do and further the understanding of Holy Scripture and of God—and trust me, I didn’t know all this before I sat down and started studying this week.

The parable: “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”

On the surface, this is a parable about the Kingdom of God and how much of the work is done in secret, in the soul of the one who would believe.  We don’t see this work—the germination of the seed, the putting down of roots, etc.—just as we don’t see the work of the Holy Spirit and how it begins within a person’s soul until, like the plant breaking the surface of the ground, the person’s faith becomes obvious and begins to grow.  As the plant matures, as the soul matures in faith, both produce good fruit.  When the harvest is ready, the farmer brings that fruit into his storehouse, just as God brings us into his eternal kingdom.  A careful reading shows us these things, but through our study, we can learn so much more.  

Consider this: at the end of the parable, Jesus said that the farmer “goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”  Simple enough, that’s what a farmer does and we understand that’s what God will do, but through study, we discover that this is actually a quote coming from the book of the Prophet Joel.  What is the book of Joel about?  Briefly, a plague of locust had swarmed through the land and destroyed everything, which led to a great famine.  Joel says to the people, it is because of your sin, your turning from God, that has brought this plague upon you.  He uses it as a opportunity to tell the people how God will punish those who turn from him.  Then, towards the end of the book is the verse that Jesus quoted partially: 

“Put in the sickle,
for the harvest is ripe.
Go in, tread,
for the wine press is full.
The vats overflow,
for their wickedness is great.” (Joel 3:13)

Joel is saying, the Kingdom of God is at hand and your judgment is near.  And further, a student of the Scripture would then be reminded of other passages in Joel, in particular, the great message of hope and of the Messiah: 

“Then afterward
I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
Even on the male and female slaves,
in those days, I will pour out my spirit.

I will show portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.  The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.  Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Joel 2:28-32a)

And then, the student of Holy Scripture, will also remember… St. Peter quoted that passage on the Day of Pentecost! (cf. Acts 2:21)  On the day that God poured out his Holy Spirit upon us all.

On the surface, you have this innocuous parable about a farmer planting seeds, but as you dig and study, you discover the entire Gospel message: the people have turned away from God, but the Kingdom of God is at hand and judgment is near, the Messiah is with us, God is giving himself and pouring out His Holy Spirit.  

That is only one example of where study can lead you with just this one short parable (don’t get me started on how the resurrection is also revealed in this passage or we’ll be here all day!)

Because we have such easy access to Holy Scripture (87% of Americans have a Bible in their homes and on average, these homes have three or more copies/source), we can sometimes take if for granted, but it is not like this everywhere.  In the mid-1980s  a large shipment of bibles entered Romania from the West, and the dictator’s lieutenants confiscated them, shredded them, and turned them into pulp. Then they had the pulp reconstituted into toilet paper and sold to the West.  That was thirty or so years ago, but there are plenty of stories like it still today.

In our church, we process the Book of the Gospels, we hold it high, the book can be censed, it is brought out into the midst of the congregation so that you can see it, it is sealed with the Cross of Christ, the text itself is kissed.  We do these things, not for tradition or for ritual.  We do these things because this is God’s Word to us.  It is His love letter to His people and just as you do or may have read and reread a love letter from a sweetheart until its falling apart because you’ve folded and unfolded it so many times,  so I encourage you to do the same with Holy Scripture and discover what God has to speak to you today.  

Let us pray: Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The podcast can be found here.

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A fellow had just been hired as the new CEO of a large corporation. The current CEO was stepping down and met with the new hire privately in his office, where he handed him three numbered envelopes.

“Open these if you run up against a problem you don’t think you can solve,” the first CEO said.

Things went along pretty smoothly for the first six months, but then sales took a downturn and the new CEO began catching a lot of heat. He went to his drawer and took out the first envelope. The message read, “Blame your predecessor.”

The new CEO called a press conference and tactfully laid the blame at the feet of the previous CEO. Sales began to pick up and the problem was soon behind him.

About a year later, the company was again experiencing a slight dip in sales, combined with serious product malfunctions. Having learned from his previous experience, the CEO opened the second envelope. The message read, “Reorganize.” This he did, and the company quickly rebounded.

After several consecutive profitable quarters, the company once again fell on hard times. The CEO went to his office, closed the door and opened the third envelope.

The message said, “Prepare three envelopes.”

About a week ago one of those funny memes circulated on Facebook.  I’ve no idea if Teddy Roosevelt actually said it, but he was quoted: “if you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.”  It is easy to blame others, reshuffle, reorganize, put up smokescreens, but on many occasions, our problems arise from inside our own skin.

To my knowledge it was never required reading, but if you attend Deacon Janie’s class, you will most likely have to read Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  It is a fun monster read, but it also explores this idea of the “other” person in us all.  That “other” who has a tendency to get us into trouble.

Dr. Jekyll writes: “With every day, and from both sides of my intelligence, the moral and the intellectual, I thus drew steadily nearer to the truth, by whose partial discovery I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: that man is not truly one, but truly two.”  Continuing on he says, “If each, I told myself, could be housed in separate identities, life would be relieved of all that was unbearable; the unjust might go his way, delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin; and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path, doing the good things in which he found his pleasure, and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil. It was the curse of mankind that these incongruous personas were thus bound together—that in the agonized womb of consciousness, these polar twins should be continuously struggling.”

St. Paul sums up the issue that Dr. Jekyll is experiencing: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do… For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.”  Yet Jesus says, “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.”  So within us all are these polar twins, Jekyll and Hyde, constantly divided and at war within us, however, in order for us to stand firmly in our faith, those divisions must cease.  So how do we evict the evil and remain righteous?

First, we must understand that until we are reborn through the resurrection, we will always have this battle with in us, but the battle within can be brought into some control.  

It is an old story, but one worth repeating:

One evening, an elderly Cherokee brave told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.

“My dear one, the battle between two ‘wolves’ is inside us all. One is evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.

The other is good. It is: joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”

The grandson thought about it for a moment and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf wins?”

The old Cherokee replied, “The one you feed.”

To subdue this battle within, we must not feed or entertain the evil desires that spring up inside of us.  We must overcome them and perhaps one of the best ways of doing that is by practicing acts of righteousness, of good.  You want to rail against someone—pray for them instead.  You’re invited to participate in something that is not becoming—go and perform some act of charity instead.  Whatever the “other” Mr. Hyde is pressing you for, turn it into good.  When you fail, remember the words of Jesus, “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter.”    As St. John tells us in his first epistle, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  There is only one catch to that statement.  Jesus continues, “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.”

“Guilty of an eternal sin.”  That one has confused and concerned people for centuries.  What did he mean?  Have I committed that sin?  Am I eternally damned?  Many have written on this topic, but it was Billy Graham who put it into words I can understand: “The unpardonable sin is rejecting the truth about Christ. It is rejecting, completely and finally, the witness of the Holy Spirit, which declares that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who alone can save us from our sins.”  The unpardonable sin is recognizing that Jesus is the only one who can redeem the Mr. Hyde in you, knowing for certain that he can and is willing to atone for your sins, and then rejecting him outright.  The eternal sin is the intentional and unwavering rejection of the Truth—of Jesus—for by refusing Him, He cannot save you.

There is story of a magnificently handsome young man sitting in a congregation.  After service the young man stayed for confession.  He confessed so many terrible sins that the priest was horrified.  The priest says, “You must have lived long to have done all that.”  The young man replied, “My name is Lucifer and I fell from heaven at the beginning of time.”  “Even so,” said the priest, “say that you are sorry, say that you repent and even you can be forgiven.”  The legend has it that the young man looked at the priest for a moment and then turned and walked away.  In his pride, he could not ask for forgiveness.  He refused to try again to follow the ways of God and left that place eternally damned.

St. Josemaria writes, “You tell me that in your heart you have fire and water, cold and heat, empty passions and God: one candle lit to St. Michael and another to the devil [you are trying to be on good terms with both]…. Calm yourself.  As long as you are willing to fight there are not two candles burning in your heart.  There is only one: the archangel’s.”

There is a battle that rages within us all, but there is only one flame that burns: the flame of Truth.  Through the grace imparted to you, practice your faith and overcome evil with holiness, recognizing that nothing is possible without Jesus and the Holy Spirit working within you.  Do these things and in the day of trial, you will stand.

Let us pray: “Holy Michael Archangel, defend us in the day of battle; be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do thou Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust down to hell Satan and all wicked spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.”

The podcast can be found here.

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A young man was the youth pastor in a rather conservative church.  At one meeting of the youth he decided to teach on evangelism.  The church was conservative enough, that films had never been shown within its walls; however, the youth pastor decided it was time they introduced some modern tools to engage the youth, but so as not to upset anyone, he selected a film that documented the work of missionaries.  We’re talking simple, safe, black-and-white religious-oriented movie. He showed the film, but less than hour after the film projector had been off the group of elders in the church called him in and asked him about what he had done. They asked, “Did you show the young people a film?” In all honesty he responded, “Well, yeah, I did.” “We don’t like that,” they replied. Without trying to be argumentative, the youth worker reasoned, “Well, I remember that at the last missionary conference, our church showed slides—” One of the church officers put his hand up signaling him to cease talking. Then, in these words, he emphatically explained the conflict: “If it’s still, fine. If it moves, sin! You can show slides, but when they start movin’, you’re gettin’ into sin.”

The church has been largely unsuccessful, but this has not deterred the church throughout the ages from trying all sorts of angles to keep folks from “gettin’ into sin.”  Some of those attempts were extreme.

In the fall of 1541 a certain preacher entered Geneva, Switzerland with a serious plan to bring religious reform to the city, so that the folks there would quit sinning. One of his first acts was to draft a set of laws that would govern the populace. Some of the laws were fairly typical of his day: swearing, gambling, drunkenness, and sexual immorality were outlawed.

But some of the other laws were probably as strange then as they seem now. People were not allowed to play cards, speak disrespectfully to others, feast, dance, sing, create art, wear jewelry, or skip church. Oh, and all children had to be named after characters from the Old Testament.  There were plenty of male names to go around, but I’m guessing there were a lot of Ruths and Esthers.

First time offenders were usually let off with a simple warning, but second time offenses drew a fine of some sort. For those who were bent on wearing earrings to the town dance, steeper penalties were enacted. Some lawbreakers were banished from the city. A dad who insisted on naming his son Claude spent four days in jail. A rebellious kid who got into a fight with his parents was beheaded. Women found pregnant out of wed-lock were drowned (along with her lover if he could be found). In the enforcement of his rules, the preacher was no respecter of persons. His step-son was found guilty of adultery and his daughter-in-law was caught behind a haystack with another man. All four of the criminals were executed.  

Today, this preacher is considered one of the great theologians and his teachings provide the foundation for many churches.  History has a way of washing away the dirt, even so, I’ve never really been a fan of John Calvin. (There’s a rant just waiting to boil over!).  But it wasn’t just Calvin.  From the beginning, the religious have attempted to legislate morality and the same was true for the Pharisees in the time of Jesus.

Our Gospel reading today begins with the third of three conflicts Jesus has with the Pharisees.  In the first, Jesus is found eating with the wrong sorts of people, leading the Pharisees to ask Jesus’ disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”  The second incident involved fasting.  The Pharisees asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?”  Today, they call Jesus out because they believe that Jesus and his disciples are “working” on the Sabbath.

We know that keeping the Sabbath holy is in the top ten commandments (#4): “Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work.  But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work.”

What were Jesus and the disciples doing?  As they were walking along the road they passed a wheat field.  Reaching out, they pulled a stalk of wheat and nibbled on the grain.  The pulling of the stalk was viewed as “harvesting,” therefore, it was work.  They had committed a most grievous sin! 

Jesus does not deny that they have plucked some wheat, but instead, he points to another incident when David and his men were hungry and also broke the law by eating the bread that was reserved for the priest, yet David and his men were not condemned.  (It is a completely different sermon, but Jesus has just set himself on an equal plain with great King David.)  Jesus then says, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”  Jesus says, “You’ve got it wrong.  The Sabbath was given, not as something to be legislated.  It was given to you as a gift.  It was given to you as a time of renewal for your body and your spirit.”  The very next incident in our Gospel shows this.

It is again the Sabbath and Jesus enters the synagogue.  There is a man with a deformed hand and Jesus asked him to stand so that everyone could see him.  Jesus then asked the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?”  They knew the answer.  They knew what was right, but they were so caught up, not only in maintaining the law, but also proving Jesus wrong, that they refused to say anything.  “They were silent. [Jesus] looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.”

The key to understanding these incidents occurs when Jesus asked the man to stand in the center of the room.  The man does, and Jesus asked, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?”  You see, Jesus was not asking about the law, Jesus was asking about the man.  By having him stand in the center of the room, he was asking the Pharisees, “What do you see?  Do you see someone who is suffering?  Do you see someone who is deprived of a full life?  Do you see someone afflicted?”  That deformed hand could also represent a deformed soul.  Somewhat caught up in sin.  Someone who has been emotionally harmed.  Someone who has given up on life.  And Jesus could very well have asked, “What do you see?  Are you unwilling to forgive them, to heal their souls, just because it is the sabbath?  Are you unwilling to restore them to spiritual health, because of some rule you have established?  This is the sabbath for crying out loud!  Of all days, this is the day of healing, of rest, of renewal, of worship, but you are so worried about someone plucking a head of wheat that you can’t be concerned with those souls that are dying all around you.”

I’ve always said that no one wakes up and decides, “Oh, I think I’ll become a heretic today.”  It comes from strong held beliefs.  The same applies to the Pharisees.  I don’t believe they intentionally sought to oppose God, but over time, they had these strong held beliefs about God and how He worked and that is through the application of the Law.  They then became so obsessed with this application of the Law that they no longer saw the person as the pinnacle of all God’s creation.  Instead they saw the person as a “project.”  Someone who needed to be legislated into holiness.  When Jesus entered the scene, they could either recognize the truth he was speaking or reject him, become hard hearted.  They chose the latter and like petulant children, they stuck their fingers in their ears and cried out, “We can’t hear you.”  But, because Jesus was gaining followers, because the people they so desperately wanted to legislate into holiness were following after this trouble maker, the Pharisees, Herodians and others begin looking for a way to destroy Jesus.

What does this look like in our own lives?  Imagine, if you will, that it is the sabbath and you are the man in the temple, the one with the withered hand.  You’ve not been able to care for yourself or your family.  You are in constant pain.  You are looked down upon because you are a drain on society.  You are considered sinful, because God does not afflict the righteous with such trials.  Jesus ask you to come and stand before everyone in all your brokenness and sinfulness.  Imagine you are that man. 

Now here is a truth: it is the sabbath and… you are that man, that woman.  You are the one afflicted, hurting, looked down upon, sinful.  Jesus, the one and only source of your healing stands before you, but someone raises a question and in so doing, reminds everyone of God’s Law: “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?”  Question: How would you like for Jesus to respond?

Today’s lesson: “Go and do likewise.”

Let us pray: 

Father of love, hear our prayer. 

Help us to know Your Will 

and to do it with courage and faith. 

Accept the offering of ourselves,

all our thoughts, words, deeds, and sufferings. 

May our lives be spent giving You glory. 

Give us the strength to follow Your call, 

so that Your Truth may live in our hearts 

and bring peace to us and to those we meet, 

for we believe in Your Love.

Amen.

The podcast can be found here.

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She “was a being so uplifted from the ordinary run of mankind that she finds no equal in a thousand years. She embodied the natural goodness and valour of the human race in unexampled perfection. Unconquerable courage, infinite compassion, the virtue of the simple, the wisdom of the just, shone forth in her. She glorifies as she freed the soil from which she sprang.” — Sir Winston Churchill

“She is easily and by far the most extraordinary person the human race has ever produced.” — Mark Twain

Who is she?  Joan of Arc, “The Maid of Orléans.”

In her own words, she tells of how it all began: I was thirteen when I had a Voice from God for my help and guidance. The first time that I heard this Voice, I was very much frightened; it was mid-day, in the summer, in my father’s garden. I had not fasted the day before. I heard this Voice to my right, towards the Church; rarely do I hear it without it being accompanied also by a light. This light comes from the same side as the Voice. Generally it is a great light. Since I came into France I have often heard this Voice. 

The voice, God, told her to go forth and force the English out of France and then take the Dauphin (the first born son of the Charles VI) to Reims where he would be coronated.  However, driving out the French had proven problematic for the French.  The French military was in such disarray that it was often said that 200 English “could put to flight 1,000 of the French.”  Yet Joan persisted that God wold prevail in fulfilling her visions; therefore, the Dauphin’s religious leaders recommended putting her to the test.  If this peasant girl can rout the English out of Orléans, then she is who she says she is.  What the French had not been able to accomplish for many months, they accomplished in five days with Joan as their rallying point.

Her story is absolutely too fascinating for me to try or even want to summarize here, so I’ll share with you one of my favorite quotes of hers.  The episode occurs as she is traveling to see the Dauphin for the first time.  The journey is dangerous, with those in her party always in danger of being attacked by the English.  However, Joan’s faith in what God has called her to do is unwavering.  She says to those with her, “I do not fear the soldiers, for my road is made open to me; and if the soldiers come, I have God, my Lord, who will know how to clear the route that leads to messire the Dauphin. It was for this that I was born!”

Over time, that passage has been shortened to a “Tweetable” length: ”I am not afraid.  I was born to do this.”

God has not given us all visions, but we know that he has counted all the days of our lives and is as near to us as we are to ourselves; therefore, look to Joan and witness her unwavering faith and do not be afraid to live, for as God was with Joan, He is with all who love Him and follow his ways.

Let us pray: Oh God, Who hast raised up in an admirable manner, the virgin of Domremy, Saint Joan of Arc, for the defense of the faith and country, by her intercession, we ask Thee that the Church triumph against the assaults of her enemies and rejoice in lasting peace; through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.