Deacon Dan Wright

Just a Reminder...

Check back Sunday morning for my monthly homily.

St. Jerome, pray for us.

"In the remotest part of a wild and stony desert, burnt up with the heat of the scorching sun so that it frightens even the monks that inhabit it, I seemed to myself to be in the midst of the delights and crowds of Rome. In this exile and prison to which for the fear of hell I had voluntarily condemned myself, I many times imagined myself witnessing the dancing of the Roman maidens as if I had been in the midst of them: In my cold body and in my parched-up flesh, which seemed dead before its death, passion was able to live. Alone with this enemy, I threw myself in spirit at the feet of Jesus, watering them with my tears, and I tamed my flesh by fasting whole weeks. I am not ashamed to disclose my temptations, but I grieve that I am not now what I then was"

On the Feast of the Archangels

“Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see heaven opened
and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” John 1:51

Throughout my life as a Christian, I have never thought it strange or out of place to ask God for the assistance of the angels. Although I may never know exactly what degree of angelic help heaven has offered, my faith tells me that it is great.  Today's Feast gives us an excellent opportunity to meditate on the great help, almost always unseen even by the most discerning eyes, which God sends our way.

Today we celebrate the Archangels: Michael, who takes up our cause against the forces of evil; also Gabriel, who visited the Virgin Mother of God to announce her blessedness, and Raphael, who acts as a healer and guide, whom we also have a biblical witness to in the beautiful Book of Tobit. Through them we celebrate the witness that is their work, which testifies that God’s goodness and providence is directed toward human beings and that he sends his mighty angels for our benefit.

As I was growing up, especially as a child, I was encouraged to believe in the presence of the holy angels. My mother would often quote the passage, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” Throughout my childhood and into my teenage years I felt the inexpressible presence of angels in my midst. Certainly the New Testament is not without a plentiful witness to the presence and help of angels.

Little did I know on the day my youngest son Dominic was born that some day I would go through the anguish of discovering and coming to terms with his having autism. Naturally, I have looked to God for healing from before the time he was diagnosed. However, I must have intuited the need for angelic assistance—we gave Dominic the middle name “Raphael.”

There have been many times in my life that I believe the angels ministered giving me strength, and certainly I would never intend to give the impression that my life has not been without weakness along the way.  Nevertheless, I have a great advocate in heaven.

Really any time we celebrate a victory over evil we can attribute the help of Michael, and any time we feel that we have received a special message from God, it is not wrong to see in it the assistance of Gabriel. Certainly all of those most special eye-opening experiences, which in themselves heal the soul, have the angel Raphael guiding the way and removing the barriers from clear sight. The angels, scripture teaches, are ministering spirits. I take this to mean they both minister to us and help us in our ministry to others.

On this special Friday Feast day we have an opportunity to thank God for the many angels in our lives—I know I have my share, and I pray that they stay around a while and make themselves at home.

The Wisdom of Solomon

Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth,
vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!
What profit has man from all the labor
which he toils at under the sun?
One generation passes and another comes,
but the world forever stays.
The sun rises and the sun goes down;
then it presses on to the place where it rises.
Blowing now toward the south, then toward the north,
the wind turns again and again, resuming its rounds.
All rivers go to the sea,
yet never does the sea become full.
To the place where they go,
the rivers keep on going.
All speech is labored;
there is nothing one can say.
The eye is not satisfied with seeing
nor is the ear satisfied with hearing.

What has been, that will be;
what has been done, that will be done.
Nothing is new under the sun.
Even the thing of which we say, “See, this is new!”
has already existed in the ages that preceded us.
There is no remembrance of the men of old;
nor of those to come will there be any remembrance
among those who come after them. Eccl. 1:2-11

I thought the first reading today was too beautiful not to include in its entirety. The link will take you to the Book of Ecclesiastes, which I recommend you spend an hour with in prayer. It’s difficult for me to write about it because some things simply stand on their own. However, I will say this much, when we reach a point that we can look back on our lives with appreciation for the wisdom that adults tried to impart to us when we were teenagers, we are then at the point that we can accept the words of Qoheleth. I think this is also the point that we can begin serious spiritual discernment in our lives, though it can happen at any age. I was blessed to have first considered what God was telling me through Ecclesiastes when I was 18.  That was all of 29 years ago. It is a time that I mark as the beginning of my true discernment for God's will.

As you read Ecclesiastes you may find at first that you disagree with Qoheleth on the matter of all things being vanity. Only recognize that what Qoheleth anticipated, perhaps longed for, was the coming of a Savior who might give true meaning to a life that otherwise lacked it. I can certainly appreciate the existentialism in Ecclesiastes—Qoheleth looks at life squarely and without any presupposition to block his view of what is. Yet he is not without hope; no, to the contrary, his words are full of the hope that is found only in God. By clearing his eyes of the vanities, the presuppositions, regarding life, Qoheleth sees that true hope and meaning are only to be found in God. Qoheleth sees what is real with profound depth.

As I read the familiar passage from Ecclesiastes I thought of my parents, now both long deceased. I thought how I would like to go back and spend just one day with them. I think of all the joy that I would be able to share, the thing I would most want to express woud be the wisdom that Christ has imparted—besides, what else has meaning? What else is truly eternal? In God alone there is peace.

A Meditation on the Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul

Two things I ask of you,
deny them not to me before I die:
Put falsehood and lying far from me,
give me neither poverty nor riches;
provide me only with the food I need;
Lest being full I deny you, saying,
“Who is the Lord?” Or, being in want,
I steal, and profane the name of my God. Prv. 30: 6-9

So great is God’s charity toward us that he provides well for all our needs; in him we lack nothing. Thus, our hope rests in God alone who knows our deepest concerns even before we vocalize them or before they are so much as imagined.

So great is God’s charity that by his Spirit’s teaching we learn in the depth of our hearts that there is nothing higher to which we may reach or aspire than the knowledge of him whose nature it is to empty his being upon the world as love.

Great indeed is his charity that he speaks to us, urging us along as we wander the way of life’s journey. By our Lord’s instruction we are to take with us only those things that are the necessary and bare essentials. It is a sign of faith in God to allow him to be the perfect and complete provider for us. We go forth rich abundantly in wisdom and grace, and rich also in the power and authority that he has given us as bearers of his sacred name received in baptism. To us he has given the commission that we might work earnestly to fulfill his will. May our prayer be that in him we have the strength to do as he bids us.

Above all things our God instills in us knowledge of the power and authority that comes from knowing him as love. Love bids us to accomplish feats that without his divine assistance we would have scarcely deemed possible; however, with the Apostle we are apt to say, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Indeed I can do all things through and by his love, but only in conjunction with his love. Without him my deeds, actions, and works return empty and meaningless.

It is love that is our excellent teacher; undeniably love is our master. Through love we learn to heal—we learn to provide for the needs of others in a way that God alone makes possible.

Among all the charities of God that we might celebrate, the greatest of all is the gift that is his word. My prayer always is that God would speak to my heart and that I would hear him. In this supplication I remember the prayers of my youth, and my desire to hear the voice of the Spirit speak clearly to me; I remember my sainted grandmother who would write while she prayed. She had no doubt that the Lord spoke to her.

Recently in the deacon office at my parish I found a print that someone had placed on one of the desks. It is a representation of St. Paul receiving dictation from the Holy Spirit, who is depicted in the form of a dove. I love depictions like this—they speak a witness to me of the faith that believes that we can hear from God and that in hearing we then act upon the word we have received. We faithfully proclaim what we have heard. The word of God comes to us mysteriously. It finds its way into our hearts in a manner that goes beyond mere mental comprehension, yet our knowing is an ever present witness to the presence of so great a love that causes us to proclaim, “The Lord provides for me. There is nothing I will lack.”

Hearing and Acting

The mother of Jesus and his brothers came to him
but were unable to join him because of the crowd.
He was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside
and they wish to see you.”
He said to them in reply, “My mother and my brothers
are those who hear the word of God and act on it.”  Lk 8:19-21

A favorite theme that I frequently like to elaborate on is “hearing the voice of God in our lives and acting on the word we hear.” Today’s scripture gives us beautiful examples of how God wills for us to receive his instruction in our hearts and to let it be our guide in life.

The gospel especially today is one that deserves our attention. Actually, it’s a familiar passage for anyone interested in apologetics because it's one that is cited regularly by detractors in a weak attempt to downplay the role of Mary by showing that Jesus sets her importance beneath that of those who act according to the will of God.

However, such an interpretation is what is properly referred to as poor exegesis. The true meaning to be gotten at in the passage, rather than focusing on any negative aspect in Jesus’ attitude toward his mother and kinsmen, brings out the sheer value of hearing and acting on the will of God—he elevates those who hear and do the Father’s will by comparing them positively to his mother and relatives.

What Jesus has to say might easily be rephrased in the form of an analogy and not lose its meaning: those who hear act on the word are to relationship with God as Jesus’ mother and kinsmen are to relationship with him.

Again, the theme today, as it has been over the weeks, focuses on action and doing. Clearly what we do is tied up with our salvation in such a way that to remove it from the theology of salvation is to be in grave error. We explore the landscape of God by placing ourselves as acting persons in the stream of real life, not by retreating from it into idealism. God is known to us by the world of life-experience that reveals him. It is as though the vision of heaven is accessible on earth by means of holy actions. The self situated in the world as a recipient of the gratuitous nature of God's self-revealing in Christ recognizes God in those actions that reveal self identity. One is known as one does.

It’s important that we take the time each day to consecrate our actions, which make up the sum of our lives and who we are in reality, to God. The thing that we must do is learn to listen for the voice of God. It is true that faith comes by hearing. Undoubtedly, familiarity with scripture, Church teachings, and prayer are invaluable. Also, learning to listen to the word—that is, to listen to God—often requires that we learn how to filter out competing voices. When we are looking for God we learn not to fix our gaze on what is not God; rather, we fix our gaze upon God wholeheartedly.

By learning to recognize the will of God we learn to enter the relationship that Jesus identifies alongside the kind of bond that is known between kin. To do the will of God is to belong to him. Learning to recognize the word is part of the hard work of discernment. However, as we begin to peel back the layers we discover the essence that lies at the heart of hearing and acting.

Let Your Light Shine: On Being Good Christians

Jesus said to the crowd:
“No one who lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel
or sets it under a bed;
rather, he places it on a lampstand
so that those who enter may see the light.
For there is nothing hidden that will not become visible,
and nothing secret that will not be known and come to light.
Take care, then, how you hear.
To anyone who has, more will be given,
and from the one who has not,
even what he seems to have will be taken away.” Luke 8:16-18

I don’t know where I first heard the phrase, “let your light shine.” Yes, of course, I’m familiar with Matthew 5:16, but what I’m saying is that the memory of the passage seems to have been as a part of my memories for as long as I can recall. There is something elementary about it—it’s part of Sunday school culture: “This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine…let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.”

Doing good deeds is part of being a living witness of our faith for the world to see, which is possible because of Christ who is in us. For us, being able to witness to the power of God in the world through our actions is the essence of the gospel—the evangel—the good news.

One of the things I appreciate deeply about Catholicism is the emphasis placed on good deeds. My appreciation is partly because I have been in conversations with Evangelical Christians who have done everything in their power to attempt to convince me that human works of righteousness have nothing to do with salvation. I admit, it's an extreme view they hold, and not one that is necessarily common to all Evangelicals, but it is one that you may encounter, and this is especially true in certain quarters of the Evangelical Internet. In their view—one that is unbalanced—practically everything about sharing the faith has to do with the proclamation. “Sure,” they tell me, “once you’re saved naturally you're going to live your life accordingly, with good works, but your works have nothing to do with your salvation.” So sharing the faith, for many Evangelicals, emphasizes telling others about it rather than works. I've had my suspicions that sola fide came about from failing to understand salvation as an event taking place each day in the world of life, in the world where we "live and move and have our being."

However, looking at things from the opposite vantage, it's true also that I’ve met many Catholics who believe that everything hinges on works: for many, the verbal proclamation of the message of salvation might as well be left to others. Unfortunately, I sometimes see a tendency to let both proclamation and works go neglected as a witness to the presence of Christ, and no denomination has a monopoly on neglecting our call and duty to share the gospel: it’s something, regrettably, that we are all equally capable of doing.

Recently I overheard a conversation in which a Catholic was telling about being at the home of a Protestant Evangelical in-law. “I wanted to watch what I said,” she recounted, “since they’re all real good Christians.” If we as Catholics are to take seriously Jesus’ commandment that we let our light shine, we must be prepared to do and to say everything that is needed in order to give people the impression that we are good Christians.

The Irresistible Call

As Jesus passed by,
he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post.
He said to him, “Follow me.”
And he got up and followed him.

The context of the gospel for today’s Feast of St. Matthew is one quite close to my heart. It is the message that God calls out to those who are in need of him, to the ones who are able to hear.

When I was a teenager, one of the things that troubled me most was my perceived failures. The passage for today was one that my mother, who always supported my desire to be a servant of the Lord, directed me toward. “It was not the righteous that Christ came to save,” she would tell me, “but the people who were able to recognize their need for a savior."

Over the years, and in the larger context of the reading, I have come to focus more on the nature of the call itself. Yes, undoubtedly I am still reminded of my need for a savior because of my failures—I suppose that fact will never change, but at least I am certain that God loves and accepts me despite my failures.

The call of the Lord appears to have power unto itself. We hear him say, “Akolouthei moi, follow me," and thus his voice falls on our ears as the irresistible call. The key to understanding has to do with our being open to hearing him.  Those things that would stand in the way must be set aside. I think because Jesus chose Matthew, the tax collector, one deemed to be a sinner, we may see God at work in a way that we would ordinarily not suppose; we see him in a way that goes against what presupposition tells us to look for in terms of what is the deepest reality.

Those things in which we find God, the places in our lives where we might hear him, are precisely where we are most likely to experience surprise—we find God in the places we would least expect. Truly when we are able to hear the call of our Lord as something irresistible, it is when we have suspended ordinary religious expectation.  In authenticity such suspension occurs due to life experiences, that is, it comes with genuiness and humility. The call of the Master is extraordinary. When we hear it, when we truly hear it, there is nothing left to do but follow.

The Immediacy of Love

In reflecting on the Memorial of St. Andrew Kim Taegon and St. Paul Chong Hasang and their companions, I recall that from the earliest days of my Christian experience I’ve considered the depth of faith it would take to be able to offer my life in martyrdom. It is truly enough to cause a serious pause in order to take in the sheer love that would make such a sacrifice possible. Each Sunday, in the Eucharist, we are reminded of the selfless gift that represents “no greater love.”

However, the idea of giving one’s life brings up serious questions, as it should. Is the rational mind at work in such instances? Would not the reasonable thing be to save oneself at any cost? Of course, it momentarily crossed my mind how examples of Christian martyrdom might easily be paralleled in the minds of some to the phenomenon of suicide martyrdom that we see common in terrorist attacks, which in no way are a true parallel to what it really means to offer one’s life, even in the remotest sense.  Thus we can lay to rest the notion that suicide killings are rational acts.  They are not and can never be.

What is the ingredient that makes a purely selfless act possible? What lies within the realm of possible experience that witnesses to the rationality of the experience of God? What bridges the gap between the world of seeming impossibilities and the world of concrete experiences in which we live? What is it that would cause even giving one’s life not to fall to the irrationality of violence?

But I shall show you a still more excellent way…

The way of love is the great conqueror of each seemingly impossible situation that this life might offer. It is through love that the power of this world, the devil, is to be conquered to the degree that a new future history for humankind will unfold. It is also in reflecting on love as it is experienced in the world of daily living, that is, as the most basic and primary of all human experiences, that we will discover the connection between God and rationality. We begin by identifying all that we are able to experience of God, in a way that does not require a secondary mediation, within the context of love. Jesus Christ, related to as a human subject sharing the subjective experience common in humanity, serves to bridge the gap that separates immediate human experience from God. Jesus brings God into the field of human possibility with immediacy—it is the immediacy of love.

Love offers us the path of self-giving as a means by which we have access to God. Of course the ultimate act of self-sacrifice is in giving one’s life for another. Still, we must understand that giving in the sense of martyrdom—if it is truly in love—never involves taking life. True sacrificial love believes that in the end God will win even if appearances seem to indicate otherwise. Mere appearances do not represent the rational, and what truly appears as real may be verified by its being shared between persons as a thing that immediately witnesses to the presence of love.

Reason to Believe

As we see in the gospel passage today, our Lord has the power to work what seems impossible, even to raise the dead. It is a testimony to faith that we believe the same power exists in our time and still works seemingly impossible things. However, regardless of how miraculous the works of God seem, and indeed they are miracles, it is important that we always seek to understand them in the plausible light of reason, though not to remove from them the essence of the miraculous. Never are the works of God such as to contradict reason. The works of the Lord, to the contrary, shed light on the ability of God to enlighten the hearts and minds of human beings.

It is important to grasp that so long as we insist upon seeing God in isolation of human existence and daily human life, the things of God will appear as contradictory to reason. So long as we place God in a static, non-reciprocal relationship with humanity we will rob ourselves of the experience of the Holy within humanity.

If the sciences have become divorced from God in our times, it is because we have failed to adequately describe the relationship between humankind and the Almighty as a dynamic and living aspect of life truly accessible to us in such a way that the truth of God does not fall within the realm of the improbable or merely contrived. If entire continents that were once the seat of Christianity have fallen into disbelief, it becomes important to ask exactly where theology has failed in terms of presenting God as a reality on par with, though qualitatively differing from, the realities of the sciences.

Certainly this topic deserves more than I able to give it in a brief blog post, but the Holy Spirit is speaking to us. It is our faith—Christianity—the belief in the one true God and Jesus Christ his Son, which still holds the key and that must hold the answer to transforming the face of the earth. I for one believe that the reign of Christ will never end. However, a certain duty lies with us—it is an evangelical duty; that is, one in which the burden is ours to take the message of the living reality of God to the world. We make God accessible to the world by living the reality that God is. We must remember that we are Christ’s body: we are members of God to the world.

In Christ, the living rational principle of the universe—that which makes intelligibility, language, and sentience possible at all—became human. We must accept that God's revelation within humanity was not an isolated incident. God is still in humankind working, thus the Apostle instructs us to strive for spiritual gifts. We are to seek the gifts of the Spirit by which we can make true knowledge of God accessible to the world. May he give us the wisdom both to communicate his reality and to understand and recognize that reality as being not uncommon among us.

Happy Birthday Deacon Dan Wright

I'm taking the day off :-)  See you here tomorrow!