"The combination of travel, the study of world religions and personal encounter with different nationalities and peoples made me see that the fullness of truth is like a complete circle of 360 degrees. Every religion in the world has a segment of that truth."
-Venerable Fulton Sheen
If you have any questions about our faith or any topics that you would like to see discussed on this page please send them to me at gdflower@comcast.net.
Thomas Jefferson was a great statesman—but he owned slaves.
Mark Twain was a great author—but he used racist words in his books.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was a great religious leader—but he may have had an eye for the ladies.
We can say similar things about many famous people because, well, because they are human. There are plenty of examples of famous people who are in the “do as I say, not as I do” club. Our society wants us to forget that some of these people existed. I’m not convinced that is the right thing to do. But we can look at how the Church handles two gentlemen who were alive when the Church was being formed and maybe get a glimpse at an appropriate response.
Our first gentleman is Origen of Alexandria who lived about 180 AD to 253 AD. He was an early Christian scholar and theologian, a prolific writer who wrote approximately 2000 treatises on a wide range of topics related to the Church. He is widely regarded in both the Western and Eastern churches as one of the most important Christian theologians and he is considered to be a Church Father. Origen made significant contributions to our understanding of the Trinity and was an early advocate for Christian pacifism. He was tortured for his faith and died of his injuries several years later.
Our second gentleman is Tertullian, who hailed from Carthage and lived about 155 AD to 240 AD. He was also a Christian theologian and apologist, and converted to Christianity in 197 AD or 198 AD. We don’t know too many details of his life, but he did leave a large body of writings, many of which are influential to this day. Some consider him to be a Church Father, others only consider him to be “the father of Latin Christianity”. He may have died a natural death in his old age.
Please note that I did not put “Saint” in front of either man’s name. As much as they contributed to early Christianity neither man is considered to be a Saint. Brilliant minds. But not Saints. Each man during his lifetime had some of his teachings branded as heresy. Origen was associated with the heresy of Origenism, which arose out of mistakes of interpretation by some of his followers. Origen’s other sin appears to have been a too literal reading of Matthew 19:12. While it is not clear whether or not Origen made himself a eunuch for the Kingdom of Heaven there is enough doubt to prevent him from being declared a Saint. Tertullian eventually left orthodoxy in his later years and started following a heretical sect of Christians.
In spite of these significant shortcomings the Church still recognizes the great minds possessed by these men and their teachings that were not only influential in their day, but continue to influence today’s Church as well. Origen is cited 9 times in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) from 5 of his writings and is quoted in the Liturgy of the Hours (the daily prayer of the Church). Tertullian is cited in the CCC 14 times from 6 of his writings and is also quoted in the Liturgy of the Hours. Their writings have influenced numerous theologians through the years and the Church recognizes their contributions at the same time that She recognizes their human shortcomings.
There is a danger in applying today’s standards to historical figures. Slavery is an abomination, but ignoring someone’s work solely for owning slaves at a time when such ownership was the norm would cost much in lost wisdom. Racism is a scourge that needs to be erased from the human heart, but judging someone from history harshly simply for being a product of their day likewise can cost society a lot. As human beings we constantly strive (or should) to perfect what has come before and to make mankind better then it was. As the Church’s treatment of Origen and Tertullian shows it is possible to recognize someone’s greatness in one area (and making good use of it) while also recognizing the feet of clay that all people have because of their humanness.
The priest’s mind had a lapse as he was celebrating Mass. “Is the consecrated host the real Body and Blood of our Lord?”, he wondered as he went through the motions of Mass. After thinking this the bread and wine transformed before his eyes into what appeared to be flesh and blood. Sounds like something out of a fairy tale, doesn’t it? But this actually happened…in 750 AD. This is the Miracle of Lanciano and you may visit Lanciano, Italy to this day and view these sacred relics. The UN and the World Health Organization ran tests in the 1970’s and concluded, “Science, aware of its limits, has come to a halt, face to face with the impossibility of giving an explanation.” Yet testing confirmed that the flesh was human heart tissue and the blood was human blood.
Vatican II said that the Eucharist is “the fount and apex of the whole Christian life” (Lumen Gentium 11), also rendered as, “the source and the summit of our faith” in other translations. Yet a recent poll tells us that half of all Catholics in the US do not believe in the Real Presence. Just like the priest at Lanciano over 1200 years ago, they doubt. It is easy enough to understand the doubt—the accidents of bread and wine still taste like bread and wine to our human senses, they don’t actually transform as they did at Lanciano. It is hard for the human mind to comprehend a God who would not only humble Himself to become one of us, but would also humble Himself to take on the simple forms of bread and wine.
The fact is that since 750 AD there have been many Eucharistic Miracles, but they have been on the increase since 1992. It wouldn’t surprise me to at all to find that this was when serious doubts about the Eucharist started to pick up among the faithful. The Vatican has a display that travels around the world (at least during non-pandemic times) which has 100 instances similar to that which occurred at Lanciano. These miracles have been subjected to rigorous scientific scrutiny and are beyond scientific explanation. If you don’t believe in the Real Presence would seeing these miracles change your mind? Maybe, maybe not, but human doubt is a powerful thing.
The Real Presence is a mystery of faith, no, the mystery of faith. The why’s and the how’s lie beyond our ability to understand. We either believe it, or we do not believe it. We can educate ourselves by reading what the Church Fathers have said about the Eucharist, we can read the many works written by theologians throughout history but if we don’t believe will this really convince us? Since it’s a question of faith it is better to ask the Lord to enlighten us, to help our non-belief, in prayer. Reading about the details of the numerous Eucharistic miracles may help, but we could end up like St Thomas who refused to believe the Resurrection until he had put his fingers into the Lord’s wounds. “Blessed are they who believe who have not seen.”
When Father elevates the Body and I elevate the Precious Blood at the final doxology we hold the Lord in our hands. When you receive communion you are receiving the Lord, body, blood, soul and divinity. As the hero was told in the movie, The Polar Express—“Believe”. If you do find yourself doubting then your challenge this Lent is to do some serious reflecting, some serious prayer and some serious reading. Google “Eucharistic Miracles” and see where it leads you. Spend some time in the presence of the Real Presence at Adoration. Sincerely ask the Holy Spirit for enlightenment. You might just find the faith needed to fully believe in the Real Presence.
To say that our society today is tumultuous would probably be the understatement of this young new year. The vitriol being cast about by people on all sides of a issue is dehumanizing. We live in a society whree we can participate in our government and debate issues in order to reach an accord. Unfortunately, violence is being used all too often as a debate tool and as a way to influence government aciton and public opinion. Christians often find themselves at odds with others in society, including with fellow Christians. So how do we participate in all of this while refraining from un-Christianlike behavior? Here are a few thoughts.
1. Remember first and foremost that every human being is made in the image and likeness of the ever living God. Every human being is entitled to the same dignity and respect as any other human being. We are all entitled to the same rights.
2. Every human being has an equal free will to make their own choices and it would be un-Christianlike to take someone's free will away through any means other than free agreement on their part.
3. Our Lord has commanded us to love our neighbor as ourselves and to will their good along with our own. This includes loving people we might see as the least lovable.
4. Violence of any kind is antithetical to the Christian way of life. Violence is not just physical, it can be verbal as well. Calling someone with whom we disagree a name or putting them or their position down is a form of violence.
5. While it is very human to lash out when we are attacked we must resist that urge with every fiber of our being and we must not retaliate. As expressed in a recent intention in the Divine Office, "Grant that we may live today in peace with all men, never rendering evil for evil." Our Lord was physically attacked and killed for what He preached, but remember-- He rebuked St Peter for returning violence with violence (and then He healed the soldier who St Peter had wounded.
6. Hatred is only going to lead to more hatred. It has always been so. Only love can prevail and only love can convert a human heart. We are told repeatedly in scripture to pray for those that hate us. Pray for them always.
Finally, remember the words of St Paul's letter to the Ephesians 4:29-32:
Never let evil talk pass your lips; say only the good things
men need to hear, things that will really help them.
Do nothing that will sadden the Holy Spirit with whom
you are sealed against the day of redemption.
Get rid of all bitterness, all passion and anger, harsh words,
slander, and malice of every kind. In place of these,
be kind to one another, compassionate, and mutually
forgiving, just as God has forgiven you in Christ.
May God bless us all.
Warning horrendus pun ahead! I dropped a copy of "A Christmas Carol" on my foot the other day. It hurt like the Dickens. (I tried to warn you.) Not that is done, let's move on. I was thinking about past Christmases recently and it struck me that my memories aren't about the gifts that I received. In fact, I wracked my brain to try to remember any gifts that I had received. I remember three. A single shot .22 rifle from Sears Roebuck that I received my 13th Christmas, a student desk, and a huge spaceship set. I remember the first two things because they are still in my family (I still have the rifle and one of my sons is using the desk). The spaceship set I remember because I saw myself playing with it in old home movies.
I remember a lot of family gatherings and the fun that I had with my aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins. The huge meals that everyone contributed to, the turkey and stuffing, Nama's apple and pumpkin pies. I remember several dinners with our priest, Father McHugh, who took his altar servers out once a year at Christmas time. We'd gather around the piano one of the older boys would play as the rest of us sang our favorite Christmas carols and hymns. After dinner Father would light up his pipe while we talked about sports and school and events of the day. Recalling the story of Scrooge (Ebenezer, not McDuck) and his visit from the ghost of Christmas past many of his memories also involved time spent with friends and family.
Our first Chrstmas also started with a family, the Holy Family. St Joseph and Mary and the baby Jesus, laying in a manger in a small, backwater town of no repute. This year will pose many challenges for us, because many of us can't be with family. We will have to do the best we can and look forward to a better tomorrow. But in spite of it all we can make the best of it with the family and friends we do have. We can still forge lasting memories for our children, ones they will remember long after the presents themselves have been forgotten. I hope that everyone has a wonderful Chrstmas and that you all experience the peace and love of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Tempus fugit. This one phrase from high school Latin class is one of the few that I remember and it means "time flies" if you've never had the pleasure of taking Latin in school. It seems like I was just writing my last Deacon's Corner article and here it is, a month later. Life can certainly get busy in a hurry, can't it? Added to this is my own inclination to avoid anything that appears like journaling and, well, there you have it. So the First Sunday in Advent is behind us, and three Sundays remain. What are some of the things we can do to make straight the path of the Lord as we await His joyful coming on Christmas morning? Our thought of the week offers a clue. We have to be the hands and the feet of Christ in this world.
St. Ignatius taught that love is expressed more through deeds than in words. This is a lesson that life has taught most of us, isn't it? Someone can say that they love us but we tend not to believe them until they show us through their actions that this is so. The more their actions show us that they love us the easier it is for us to believe that they do. Jesus says "Not everyone who do says to me 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one who does the will of my Father in heaven." (Matt 7:21) There it is, do you see it? He says "one who does", doesn't He? If we aren't doing anything for our neighbor then we aren't carrying out our Father's will for us. Our faith requires us to be both hearers of the Word and doers of the Word.
During this time of preparation we can reflect on what we can do during the coming year to become better doers of the Word. We need to look for ways to love our neighbor as ourself. Yes, I know this is not always easy to do. Not only do we sometimes have trouble loving ourselves but we also have trouble loving our neighbor and our lives sure are jam packed with enough things to do. We are all busy but the trick is to find a way to be less busy for ourselves and more busy for others. We need to actively look for those opportunities when we can be doers of the Word. Praying for that one neighbor that we don't like all that much or finding a local charity to donate money (or, even better, time) to. We need to identify the talent we have been given and figure out how to best use that talent for God's greater glory. The more successful we can be the straighter the path is for the Lord.
When Calvin Coolidge was President he invited some folks from back home to eat with him at the White House. They were uncertain what to do, and decided to do whatever the President did during the meal. The dinner went smoothly with the guests faithfully copying Cal's actions. When the after dinner coffee was served Cal poured coffee into his saucer and added cream and sugar, while his guests did the same. With a sly look on his face Cal then put the saucer on the floor for his cat. While this is one of my favorate stories about one of our state's Presidents it emphasizes a point that needs to be made- we often learn by watching others and this is particularly true of children who learn a great deal by watching the adults around them. So while it might be overwhelming to home school your children during this pandemic the fact is that you've been teaching them through your actions their whole lives.
Now you are being asked to teach them one more thing- religous education. Most of us are probably comfortable teaching the basics of reading, writing and math, but teaching religion? "I'm not a theologian," you might be thinking, "and I barely understand it myself, how can I possibly teach my kid?" The good news is that you don't need a lot of specialized knowledge to teach your kids, that's the reason that we have texts and workbooks. The concepts your children will learn in these classes are pretty basic- and the materials you will receive cover what they need to know. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you embark on this journey.
First, it is important to emphasize that we need a personal relationship with our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. This is the center that holds our faith together. Let your child see you talking with Jesus, which is what prayer is when you get right down to it. If you can work this prayer into your home schooling so much the better. (God may have been removed in our secular schools, but you are encouraged to have Him in your home.)
Second, spend a little time with the text before covering the lesson with your child. The texts are written at the specific grade level of your child, but children are different and you know your child best. Are there phrases or concepts in the text that your child will struggle with? Now is the time to form a different phrase that they will understand.
Third, children are inquisitive by nature and yours might want to talk about your faith journey and what our religion means to you. Your personal witness can be the most powerful teacher. This is how our Church started, one witness at a time telling others about their experience.
Fourth, remember that you are the sower of the seeds and as long as you provide a good learning environment the Holy Spirit is the one responsible for making the seeds grow. Remember the parable of the sower (see Matthew 13:1-9 if you need a refresher)- do the best you can to make your children fertile ground in which the seed may grown.
Finally, if you do find yourself stuck and not knowing how to explain something don't hesitate to ask for help. Our Parish Catechetical Leader (I simply call her Karoline) is a good place to start, but myself, Father Richard and Father Dan are also willing to help. May God bless you as you embark on this important journey!
There are Seven Deadly Sins- Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy and Pride. One of the worst of them is pride or vainglory. Pride as it is used when putting it on the deadly sin list means excessive love of self or the desire to be better or more important than others. Proverbs 16:18 tells us that “Pride goes before disaster, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”. (You are probably more familiar with the “Pride goes before a fall” version, which is an incorrect quotation.) Pride and a haughty spirit go hand in hand, as excessive pride will lead to arrogance. So are we not to feel any pride at all in anything we do? While we have to be careful it is okay to feel a sense of pride at doing a good job or to feel a sense of pride when our daughter wins that blue ribbon at Field Days or when our son wins the race.
A sense of accomplishment (or pride) is a healthy human response to the successful achievement of any challenge. And I think that is what sets one human act apart from another when it comes to sin- a healthy human response to a situation is okay, an excessive human response is potentially sinful. We take a good thing and make it bad by over indulging or exaggerating our response (for instance, this is the difference between love and lust, between taking a well-deserved break and sloth, etc.). So we need to be on the alert for pride that is excessive, especially when it causes us to think that we are better than someone else (a sure warning sign). It is hard enough to love our neighbor as ourselves, but it is even harder when we think that we are superior to them. A lot of “isms” get their start in pride. Sexism arises from the incorrect belief that men are better than women. Racism arises from the incorrect belief that people of one race are better than people of a different race.
It is too easy to look at someone who is marginalized in some way and to think that we are “better” than they are. One who has a home might be “better off” than a homeless person, but they are not a better human being simply from the fact that they have a home and the other person does not. We are all created in the image and likeness of the ever living God and as such we all share the same human dignity and worth. It is very nice to have “things” but we must not let these “things” lead us down the path of pride. We need to always remember the Lord’s commandment to “love one another as I have loved you”. This can be very hard to do if we love ourselves too much and think of ourselves as better than others. So how do we overcome our human inclinations in this arena?
Each of the deadly sins has an opposite heavenly virtue and the best way to overcome one of the deadly sins is to cultivate its opposite heavenly virtue. The virtue that opposes pride is humility. If we are humble then we keep our accomplishments in perspective and we realize that we used our God given talents to accomplish a goal rather than thinking our accomplishment came strictly from us. If we are humble we compliment the other person rather than fish for a compliment from them. If we are humble we recognize our own limitations and realize that while we might be over-accomplished in one area of our lives there are other areas that probably need a bit of work. If we are humble we are selfless rather than selfish. If we are humble we respect those around us and see the image of God in them, even if they aren’t very likable. After all, if we see God in the other person are we likely to look down on them for any reason?
"I am in the process of dying", that was the thought that ran through my head as I listened to the Gospel reading during my Ordination Mass. The Gospel passage in question was John 12:24- "...unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit." My old self, the one that existed before ordination, was dying and a new self would emerge following my consecration. Like Baptism, Holy Orders is a Sacrament that leaves an indelible mark on one's soul. In short, a new soul exists where the old one used to be. In this way I was very much like the grain of wheat in the Gospel passage. The Gospel goes on to say, "Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life." (Verse 25) I certainly loved my life prior to becoming a Deacon. Earthly pleasures and sinful ways are indeed easy enough to get used to. I never considered myself to be holy by any stretch of the imagination, which made my calling to become a Deacon very surreal to me. How can the Lord call one as flawed as I have been in my life? But the calling was almost irresitable, even when I was feeling most unworthy. As I set out on the journey I knew only one thing- that I wanted to do what God wanted me to do, to fulfill His will for me.
And oddly enough the further I went along my journey the easier it became to put the old ways aside and to take up new ways. As the Venerable Fulton Sheen once said, "it is hard for the Lord to fill you up with salt when you've filled yourself up with pepper." There was almost a sense of relief when I finished my Lay Apostolate Formation in 2012 and found out that there would be no Diaconate Formation in the near future...but it was only almost. I remained committed to trying to do God's will in my life. I knew that if my vocation was a true one then the only force on this earth that could prevent it from happening was myself. So I continued to be involved with our Parish as much as I could, and I continued to pray that I be allowed to do God's will. In 2016 we had a bit of a scare when it was found that I had lung cancer. But it was discovered early and surgery alone was enough to cure me of that dreadful disease. Finally, in 2017 I started to hear grumblings through my grapevine that the Diaconate was being started up again. I kept putting feelers out, but wasn't receiving any information. One day, almost in desperation, I hit my knees and prayed, "Lord, I want to be a Deacon in your Church." Shortly after that I was put in touch with the Director of the Diaconate and after applying was accepted as an Aspirant. The funny thing was that the Director had the names of all of the men who had finished the Lay Apostolate Formation, but my name was not on the list. One may of course make of that what one will, but I believe that had I not said that prayer when I had that I would have had to wait until the next class to be enrolled. I had always held back a little when it came to actually wanting to be a Deacon, but that is what God needed me to realize.
Three years of college level courses followed. They weren't always easy, but I was able to pass them all with the help of the Holy Spirit. Karoline was supportive through it all and that was a huge help. By this time I was starting to feel a difference in myself because the change had been so subtle. I was more outgoing with strangers; I was more at peace with myself; my thoughts toward others were much more charitable than they had ever been; my old way of being no longer felt right. And so it was that as I sat there, listening to the proclamation of the Gospel, that I realized that over the past decade I have been slowly dying, only to rise again as a new creation following my ordination. It is a very humbling feeling.
I look forward to being your Deacon and serving our Parish community. I thank you for all of your prayers over the years of my formation and ask for your continued prayers as I carry out my ministry. God bless you all!