Unlike coffee, there is no such thing as an instant Catholic.
Live Bait on the Sharp Hook of Salvation
At Calvary, we impaled the Son of God on the sharp hook of salvation while He was human, alive, tender and vulnerable. Ouch! We impaled Him on the Cross with the same insouciant cruelty with which a fisherman impales a live worm on a sharp hook. Yet, despite impaling the Son of God on the sharp hook of salvation - despite this cruel torture and horrible death, both the Son of God and His love for us survived. His survival is proof of His omnipotence. However, the survival of His love for us is proof of so much more. The survival of His love for us shows us the very essence of divinity itself: an indestructible love for us.
God then cast the live bait into the cesspools of sin to fish for the children of Adam and Eve.
Have you taken the bait? Do not delay. Because we are mortal, our time is running out. The clock is ticking. We know not the hour or the day. (Matthew 4:19)
There were Two Survivors of Calvary not One
Delivery of the Gift of Paradise: Ineluctable - just Delayed a Bit
God plans to deliver the gift of paradise to us just as they delivered the gift of paradise to Adam and Eve. God will not be less generous with us than they were with them. Adam and Eve were the first beneficiaries of God’s love for us. They were not the last. God’s philanthropy did not end with Adam and Eve; God’s philanthropy began with them. This is good news of great joy - very good news for us indeed. Rejoice and be glad. Fear nothing. As Jesus said to Julian of Norwich, “...all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.” Is this good news of great joy?
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More and Better Theology
More and better theology is discovered on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection (1 Corinthians 1:17) than in the head of every apologist, theologian, Doctor of the Church, monk, abbot, mystic, priest, monsignor, bishop, Cardinal, Pope, hermit and saint who has ever lived or will ever live.
The bombshell of revelation exploded when Jesus and the evil we did to him met in violent collision on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The payload of the revelation was a high fidelity representation of the reality of God. The incandescence of the violent collision illuminated darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany.
The Owner of the House is back!
Long absent from the house, its owner returned but the servants of the house no longer recognized Him. He had become a stranger to them. In their eyes, He was just a meddlesome intruder intent on interrupting the complacency of their way of life; so, they tortured and killed Him. Or so they thought. Both He and His love for His servants survived the brutal baptism into which they immersed Him. Then their eyes were opened. They recognize and remembered Him. Happy are the servants of the house whose owner loves them despite their wickedness.
The thirty-three Visit of the Son of God to us at and about the city of Jerusalem in a region of the world called the Middle East more than two thousand years ago was an apocalypse. It revealed the nature of God. The Visit tore in twain the veil that hid from us the nature of God. The thirty-three Visit told us many things about the nature of God.
His birth spoke to the humility of God. The Son of God came amongst us not on a level above us as befits God but with us on the same level as us - as one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering. The Son of God rubbed elbows with us. They say He pitched His tent amongst us.
His miracles spoke to the kindness of God. He healed the sick and raised the dead. He was a friend to sinners.
His survival after we tortured and killed Him spoke to the omnipotence of God. Death, our greatest enemy, has no power over Him.
The survival of His love for us after we tortured and killed Him, however, tells us even more and takes us deeper into the mystery, majesty and magnificence of God. It reveals the very essence of divinity itself. It shows us that God is indestructible love for us.
Oh! Happy love!
The thirty-three Visit was the dramatic announcement that the owner of the house who had withdrawn had now returned and was here to stay. He is back! He is back! The owner of the house is back! The owner is back to reclaim His house. “... [P]repare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Isaiah 40:3). Tidy up the rooms of the house. For He is back and is here to stay! The stranger wants to become our friend as He was a friend to our parents, Adam and Eve.
During the thirty three Visit of the Son of God to us upon the earth, the Son of God has given us proof of the nature of God. Therefore, proclaim the proof! Let the knowledge of God fill the earth as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9).
The Ten Commandments
In one of the Ten Commandments, God admonishes the children of Adam and Eve not to make any images of them.
Why?
God knew that any representation of them made by human hands would be inferior to the representation of them that they would give us at Calvary.
On the canvas of Calvary in the pigments of pain and suffering, the Son of God, the brush of truth, painted a self portrait of their tender and indestructible love for us. All other portraits of the nature of God, before Calvary and since Calvary, must yield to the self portrait of Calvary. They are inferior representations of God. Everything must be measured against the self-portrait they gave us at Calvary. Test everything against the revelation that God gave us at Calvary. You do not need to be a rocket scientist or a theologian or a pope to conduct the test. You can do it yourself. That is why the revelation of Calvary is so marvelous. Calvary is a do-it-yourself understanding of the nature of God.
No Passion; No Proof
We do not take God at His word. His word is not good enough for us. In addition to His word, we demand proof. Our skepticism is not a bad thing but a good thing. Moreover, our skepticism is copacetic with God. In fact, our skepticism is a precious gift from our God.
Our demand for more than the word of God is a defense mechanism that developed in the children of Adam and Eve after the fall of their parents.
The world into which God created Adam and Eve had no predators. Without predators, Adam and Eve had no chance when the serpent suddenly appeared. They were sitting ducks. Without predators, there was no need for Adam and Eve to develop a defense mechanism against them. Without a defense mechanism, Adam and Eve uncritically accepted the propaganda of the serpent that godlessness was a better place in which to live than in paradise. In godlessness, Adam and Eve would be their own gods and, thus, they would not need God any longer. Adam and Eve fell for the malarkey. Innocence, gullibility - call it what you will - coupled with a predator intent on taking them down brought about the fall of man.
God let it happen because the long term benefits to the children of Adam and Eve outweighed the short term costs to Adam and Eve. The fall of man is an example of the harsh but effective medicine that God prescribes for us. The effectiveness outweighs the harshness in the opinion of God. Moreover, who are we to question the opinion of God?
The children of Adam and Eve would be better prepared for the predator. With better preparation, they would be less likely to fall for the malarkey from the serpent. The fall of Adam and Eve was the trigger that woke up our God given gift of rationality - our defense mechanism against the propaganda of the serpent. However, once turned on, rationality is hard to shut off. We apply it to everything including the word of God. God is happy to work with rational creatures. God only has problems with irrational creatures. Like Adam and Eve who ran way from their home with God in paradise, irrational creatures are impetuous to their own detriment. They shoot themselves in the foot.
Thus, the awakening of our God given gift of rationality is a good thing not a bad thing even though it makes us not accept at face value the word of God. God would rather us exercise our God given gift of rationality than not exercise it and be vulnerable to the propaganda of the serpent even though we apply it to the word of God as well. God is fully capable of giving us proof. The serpent is not.
Therefore, when the most Holy Trinity tenderly put the love note into our hands at Bethlehem more than two thousand years ago, they knew that we would not accept their message of love at face value. They had awakened within us a defense mechanism. Thus, it was obvious to the most Holy Trinity that they would have to also give us a guarantee that the love note was genuine to get their message across. Thus, they gave us the guarantee of Calvary. They let us torture and kill the love note. Yet, the love note continued to love us nonetheless. If the love note were counterfeit, it would have faded as we tortured Him and died when we killed Him. But, it did not. Both He and His love for us survived. His survival was proof of His omnipotence. The survival of His love for us was proof of so much more. The survival of His love for us was proof that the nature of God is indestructible love for us. Wow! What a guarantee.
No passion; no proof.
The serpent never let us torture and kill Him. The serpent never sent us a love note. The serpent never gave us a guarantee of genuineness. All the serpent ever gave us was propaganda.
Words are cheap. A guarantee is expensive.
The publication of the omnipotence and the nature of God that took place at Calvary came at a cost. It was not free. Yet, the Son of God paid the cost of publication out of His own pocket. He did not ask the children of Adam and Eve to defray any of the cost even though publication was solely for our benefit. He did not pass the hat. Furthermore, the currency used to pay the cost of publication was the coin of suffering. He paid the cost not from His limitless divine resources but from His limited human resources. He paid it all for us. He kept not a penny for Himself. He has never paid more for anything else. That is how we know that we are dear to Him - quite dear to Him.
The Rule of Survival
Our survival is governed solely by a simple but fundamental principle. Humanity in every place and in every age and of every religion is subject to its command. No exceptions. Only by including God in our lives do we live and only by excluding God from our lives do we die. To include God in our lives in the hereafter, we must include God in our lives now! By excluding God from our lives now, we exclude God from our lives in the hereafter (Galatians 6:7-9). Take an interest in God and God will take an interest in you. Include God in your life and God will include you in theirs. Ignore your God and your God will ignore you. The power of reciprocity is in our hands. Call on God and God will answer. Our voices may be weak but God’s ears are mighty.
The Mountain of God
The Catholic Church has one thing going for it that others do not. It has penetrated the fog that envelops the mountain of God (Psalm 24:3). Some only see the fog. Others see no more than the bottom layer or two. The Catholic Church sees all three layers of the mountain of God. The bottom of the mountain is God's love for us. It is the foundation that supports everything else. The middle is the thirty-three year Visit of the Son of God to us at and about the city of Jerusalem in a region of the earth called the Middle East more than two thousand years ago during which the apocalypse of God's indestructible love for us took place. We tortured and killed the Son of God; yet, He continued to love us nonetheless. The top of the mountain is the Mass. The Mass transports the apocalypse of God's indestructible love for us from then and there, across space and time, to us here and now. The three layered mountain of God - God's intransigent love for us, the Visit and the Mass - is the prized possession of the Catholic Church. It is the core of Catholicism. It draws many from godlessness to God.
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Reality
Reality does not consist of a single layer. Reality has depth. Its depth comes from multiple layers. Different stories unfold on the different layers of reality. The story that is unfolding on the skin of reality is different than the stories unfolding on the subcutaneous layers beneath. Yet, the layers intersect as well as overlap.
The nearsighted can only see the story unfolding on the skin of reality. The farsighted can see the different stories unfolding on the different layers of reality
Safari
Christianity is not reading about a safari. Christianity is going on safari.
In Christianity, there is a delicate balance between thinking about God and seeking God. We do not become Christians head first. We become Christians feet first. The head follows the feet. Why? We don't make a Christian. Only God makes a Christian.
Like foolish children, Adam and Eve ran away from home with God in paradise and took us with them into godlessness. Godlessness is not a nice place. To rescue us from godlessness, God established an escape route, defined it with holy places, made a map of them and entrusted the map to the Church. At a holy place, a close encounter with the living God takes place. During a close encounter with the living God, a connection is made between earth and heaven. Through the connection, the light of paradise illuminates the darkness of godlessness. No one walks away from a close encounter with the living God unchanged. No one walks away from a close encounter with the living God empty handed. A new exodus is taking place and is now in progress on the escape route through the hostile desert of godlessness from slavery under the yoke of Pharaoh to freedom with God and their holy family in paradise. Leading the new exodus is the new Moses, the Church.
The escape from godlessness to God is primary. Nothing else matters. Everything else is secondary. Anything that interferes is suspect (Matthew 23:13) (Matthew 23:24) (Matthew 6:33).
The job of the Church is to be grease for the wheels of the escape not an obstacle in its way. The job of the Church is to facilitate the escape not to filter it. The job of the Church is not to throw the children of Adam and Eve out of the life boats and into the shark infested waters of godlessness whose thinking is not consubstantial with the official thinking of the Catholic Church. The job of the Church is to fill the life boats with the children of Adam and Eve regardless of the status of their thinking and get them to safety - even the agnostics and atheists.
Only by moving from holy place to holy place that define the escape route can you be sure that you are heading in the right direction. The movement of the new exodus is the needle of the compass that always points in the direction of God.
Examples of the holy places upon the earth at which close encounters with the living God take place are the Mass, Confession, the other sacraments, works of charity, acts of kindness, prayer especially the rosary, Eucharistic adoration, feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, fasting, the gathering of two or more together in God's name, bible study, suffering, the hour of death, etc.
Seeking God and experiencing close encounters with them at the holy places defines a Christian. Seeking God and experiencing close encounters with them at the holy places is what Christians do. Christianity is more experiential than intellectual. We are Christians in the doing more so than in the thinking. We are Christians with our feet more so than with our heads. We become Christians feet first not head first. Christianity is a religion that is done more than thought.
The reason that Jesus washed the feet of his disciples rather than their heads is because the feet are more important than the heads (John 13:1-17).
The Sinking Ship
Godlessness is a sinking ship (Mark 4:35-39). We are its passengers. The Church is its crew. God gave the Church a rescue mission. However, the rescue mission that God gave the Church is not to save the ship. The rescue mission that God gave the Church is to save the passengers.
To the lifeboats! To the lifeboats! Abandon ship! Abandon ship!
God is not interested in making godlessness into a better, more hospitable place for godless people to live. God wants us to exhume the corpse of godlessness that is poisoning us as it rots in our hearts (Matthew 24:28)
The Piñata
Let me explain the guarantee that the Son of God gave us at Calvary that His love for us is genuine with the assistance of south of the border imagery. At Calvary, we hung a piñata from a tree, beat Him with sticks, broke open His fragile shell and exposed His most sacred heart for the world to see. Remarkably, it was still filled to the brim with love for us. Buckets of blood spilled through the wounds we opened in the body of the Son of God, but not a drop - not a drop - of His love for us. Our brutal cruelty toward Him revealed His tender and intransigent love for us.
The Current of Salvation
The Sourness of Godlessness
Godlessness is sour.
In their mercy, God blunts the sharp edge of godlessness.
The Sweetness of Paradise
Paradise is sweet.
What makes paradise sweet? Paradise is the home of an immortal, omnipotent and benevolent God to whom each of us is the apple of their eye, who loves each of us individually and who desire to shower us with gift after gift. 'Where do I sign up'? ‘How do I enlist?’ ‘How do I get citizenship in the kingdom of the God who clung to His love for us as our Cross clung mercilessly to Him?”
Wickedly, we impaled the sweet bait on the sharp hook. The Son of God suffered and died on the sharp hook while He was human, alive, tender and vulnerable. Yet, the most Holy Trinity used our wickedness to highlight their goodness. Despite the sin of sins we committed against the Son of God, the most Holy Trinity cast the sweet bait into the cesspools of godlessness to fish for the children of Adam and Eve. They continue to do this for us. The Son of God reclaimed His life and continues to love us nonetheless. He and His love for us are indestructible. By impaling the Son of God on the sharp hook of salvation while He was human, alive, tender and vulnerable, a perfect opportunity was created for Him to show us - an apocalypse - the indestructibility of Himself and His love for us despite our wickedness.
The indestructibility of the Son of God and His love for us despite our best efforts to destroy Him and His love for us make Paradise sweet.
Some of the children of Adam and Eve have taken the bait hook, line and sinker.
At Calvary, God disclosed to us the sweetness of paradise.
At Calvary, God showed the bees the honey.
The Potential Difference
A potential difference exists between the sourness of godlessness and the sweetness of paradise.
We live in a hybrid world - a world of godlessness and a world of God. Our world has cesspools of sin and oasis of grace. The oasis of grace are the jewels set against the background of the hostile desert of godlessness. Our job is to make our escape through the hostile desert of godlessness around the cesspools of sin through the hostile desert of godlessness from oasis of grace to oasis of grace from slavery under the yoke of pharaoh to freedom with God and their holy family in the promised land. Only by making our way on the escape route can we be sure that we are heading in the right direction and will safely arrive at our destination.
The Current of Salvation
To induce current to flow from godlessness to paradise, all that was needed was a conductor between the two.
The Conductor of Salvation
The most Holy Trinity put the Son of God in place between the two worlds so the current of salvation (Luke 15:11-32) would flow. The game is rigged. The playing surface is tilted. The bias is toward paradise and away from godlessness.
The Current of Salvation
To influence us to make the right decision, that is, to return to our home in paradise and to stay there, God established the current of salvation. It is powered by twin engines. One of the two engines of salvation is the sourness of godlessness. It pushes the children of Adam and Eve out of godlessness. The other of the two engines of salvation is the sweetness of paradise. It pulls the children of Adam and Eve into paradise. The twin engines produce a current that flows through the Son of God (Luke 15:11-32) and carries us from godlessness to paradise.
Defying the Current of Salvation
Some of us swim against the tide. Like ungrateful dogs, some of us bites the hand that feed us.
Acceleration
Life begins as a marathon and ends as a sprint
The Foundation of Christianity
The foundation of Christianity is the thirty-three year visit that the Son of God paid us at and about the city of Jerusalem in a region of the earth known as the Middle East more than two thousand years ago. At Bethlehem, the most Holy Trinity delivered to us a love note. They put a love note into our hands. The Son of God was the love note. Thirty-three years later, at Calvary, the Son of God gave us His personal guarantee that the love note was genuine. Calvary was the highlight of the Visit. We tortured and killed the Son of God. If the love note was counterfeit, it would have faded as we tortured Him and died when we killed Him. But it did not. It survived. The survival of the love note despite the brutal baptism into which we immersed Him is the guarantee that the love note was genuine. Two significant gifts were given to us during the thirty-three year visit: 1) a love note and 2) a guarantee that the love note was genuine. Two significant gifts not one.
The Tug of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is tugging at our souls. The curious follow the tug back to its source.
The Escape from Our Dire Predicament
Like foolish children, Adam and Eve ran away from their home with God in paradise and took us with them into godlessness. Godlessness is not a nice place. To rescue us from godlessness, God established an escape route, defined it with holy places, made a map of them and entrusted the map to the Church. A new exodus is taking place and is now in progress on the escape route through the hostile desert of godlessness from slavery under the yoke of Pharaoh to freedom with God and their holy family in the promised land. The Church is the new Moses.
Only by making our escape from holy place to holy place that define the escape route can we be sure that we are heading in the right direction. The movement of the new exodus from holy place to holy place forms the needle of the compass that always points to God.
The job of the Church is to be grease for the wheels of the escape and not an obstacle in its way. The job of the Church is to facilitate the escape and not to filter it. The job of the Church is to get all of the children of Adam and Eve into the life boats and on their way to safety and not to toss anyone overboard into the shark infested waters of godlessness.
The escape from godlessness to God is primary. Nothing else matters. Everything else is secondary. Anything that interferes is suspect.
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A Thin Slice
Life is but an infinitesimally thin slice of time compared to the thickness of eternity. Moreover, it gets thinner and thinner with the passage of time. In other words, it won’t be long now