Deep South Deacon

Loose Lips Sink Souls

2011-09-05T08:31:00.003-05:00

This is an approximation of the homily I delivered at the 9:00 AM Mass at St Luke the Evangelist Church in Slidell. The readings are for the 23rd week of ordinary time and can be found here.

Wise sayings are brief, catchy phrases that help remind us about some important behavior or principle of life. For example:

During WWII there was a strong concern that sailors on leave might accidentally reveal information to the enemy that could harm the allied cause. The phrase “loose lips sink ships” or “loose lips might sink ships” was coined as something easy to remember to remind military personnel to guard their words at all times.

And then there is my favorite :“Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know quite what you are gonna get.” As you probably know, this comes from the movie Forest Gump and means that you never now exactly what life is going to contain and that you have to live each day and experience life to its fullest.

Practical wisdom can come from almost anywhere: philosophers, writers, family, friends, even TV and movies. As people of faith, we should recognize the practical Wisdom contained in scripture and learn to follow it.

In my homily, I intend to explain to you the entire Bible. I mean the whole entire Bible. Are we ready. 6 words, one sentence. “Love God completely and everyone likewise.” That’s it. The rest of it is more or less details. Granted, that is a bit of an oversimplification, but the Bible addresses essentially two things 1)man’s relationship with God and 2) man’s relations with each other.

In the second reading from Romans, Paul summarizes man’s relationship with each other when he writes “love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” Pretty simple, isn't it.

Both the prophet Ezekiel in the first reading and Jesus in the Gospel describe a specific aspect of man’s relationship with each other in a process called fraternal correction. Fraternal correction is when one Christian goes to another who is in error or in sin, helps the other to see his or her fault, and then, with love, guides that individual onto a better path. The key to this process is the interest of the other person and profound love.

Ezekiel refers to general fraternal correction that may not directly involve, the observer of the sin or wrongdoing. You may not be the victim of the sin or error, but are a witness to it. For example, let’s say that in my blog I were to write something completely against Church teaching in my blog like “abortion is not an evil in society.” Although you might not be the victim of what I wrote, as a member of the Christian community, you are still called to fraternal correction.

In the Gospel, Jesus speaks about the specific situation when the wrong is between you and another person. When Jesus says “if your brother sins against you” he was not talking about something that was a hypothetical or rare situation. No He knew of our innate tendency to get things wrong, to sin, to hurt one another. He knew it was going to happen.

What is the crux of what Jesus is saying later in this passage? When someone does something to hurt you what is the first thing that we are to do? Go to your family, friends, coworkers or supervisor? Post it on Facebook or Twitter? - Go on the Dr Phil show? Take them to the People’s Court or sue them in St Tammany Court?

No, what Jesus says is that your primary and first recourse is to go and have it out with the other person, between your two selves. What!!!! You might say. Talk to someone else face-to-face about a grievance? I can’t do that. I am not sure how I would feel about that! But, that’s what Jesus says is the first thing to do.

Confronting someone who wrongs you directly and with love is not an easy task; it is actually one of the most difficult things in life to do. However, it is the right thing to do. Aside from being the right thing to do, there are personal benefits to be gained from following Jesus’ words of wisdom. Taking this approach helps us to develop courage, strength, maturity and compassion.

Following Jesus’ wisdom, moreover, prevents us from ourselves falling into serious sin. Serious sin you say? Yes serious sin. You may have heard this wise saying: “If you don’t have something good to say about someone, don’t say anything at all.” That is some real wise advice, don’t you agree? What don’t we usually follow it? Engaging in conversation that can negatively affect someone’s reputation is gossip.

Most of us know that making false statements about someone that might hurt their reputation is a sin. It is called calumny or slander. So if I say to you a false statement such as our vicar Fr. Thang was a gangster when he left Vietnam, that would be a serious sin. But even repeating or revealing something about someone that might hurt their character EVEN IF IT IS true, unless it is commonly and publicly known is still a sin, a sin called detraction. So for example, if Fr Thang were actually a gangster and I revealed that to you that would still be sinful.

What to do? From a practical perspective, here are some suggestions for all of us.

• If our friends start bad-mouthing others, cut it off. They need to know that it is not right and that you won’t take part. This is also a great opportunity to practice fraternal correction
• Never criticize another person, except to his or her own face, with love, and a sincere intent to help. Criticism can never be “constructive” if expressed to anyone else.
• Avoid public forms of “news and information” such as newspaper columns, magazines and some TV shows that are primarily in business to engage in gossip.

Some of these are tough, a challenge to even myself. In conclusion, recalling the wise saying I opened with “Loose lips sink ships.” Maybe you can remember a wise saying that I just made up in preparing this homily: Loose lips sink souls.

Our God Is God Of All

2011-08-14T19:50:00.000-05:00

This is an approximation of the homily I delivered for the 20^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 14, 2011 at St Luke the Evangelist in Slidell . Here is a link to the readings. http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/081411.cfm

Have you ever felt like you did not belong somewhere or were being excluded? One time I recall feeling this way was many years ago while working on a project in Salt Lake City. I went to Mass, and like any good Catholic, I sat in the last row! I began to notice that I was one of the few if not only people who looked like me. There were virtually no other Anglos there. Everyone looked either Indian or very Latino. Week after week, I went to this same Church. No one was rude to me nor did anyone do anything mean or harsh. Yet no one ever did anything to make me feel welcomed. One ever even said hello. I began to wonder if that was how a minority felt going to a mostly white Church. Maybe you never had my experience but perhaps you were the last one picked for the ball team and it seemed no one wanted you? Or you felt snubbed by some group because they felt you weren’t good enough, are a different race, or lived in the wrong neighborhood? Many of us have experienced this feeling at some point in our lives.

As a people of faith, we should examine our attitudes about exclusion and prejudice and know that our God is one God for all people.

In the first reading from the prophet Isaiah, we hear “… my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” That sounds like a pretty innocent statement, don’t you agree?. We need to understand Jewish thinking at the time. The Jews were the chosen people….God was only for them … Isaiah’s fellow Jews must have thought he had lost his mind! Realize that as far as the Jews were concerned there were two races – Jews and not-Jews. The Jews were God’s chosen people and the rest of the world was – well not. Salvation was for the Jews only and not the rest of the world.

Paul experiences being excluded in a particular way in today’s reading from Romans. Most Jews did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Because of that, the Christians were excluded from society and eventually from the Temple. Paul, who was once a influential member of the Pharisees, felt like an outsider to his own people.

I will have to admit, for many years today’s Gospel bothered me. I would be willing to bet that it bothered some of you, too. The words and actions of Jesus did not jive with my idea of an all-loving and all-kind Jesus.

The Canaanite woman is seeking healing for her daughter and the disciples asked Jesus to send her away. Jesus said to them in reply “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Exactly what they expected to hear. He’s our Jesus; not theirs. And so, what happens? The woman persists and Jesus essentially calls her a dog!! A dog!!!

It seems awful harsh. But that is exactly how the Jews of the time saw the Gentiles, especially the Canaanites who did little things like sacrifice their own children to their gods. So for the time, it probably seemed like a very normal thing to say. “I can’t do that for you. You are a dog.” Just as normal, as say 60 years ago all over the South where drinking fountains had signs hanging over them saying “colored only” and “white only.” Both actions were perfectly acceptable and normal for their times, but looking back at them now, they are completely unacceptable.

But Jesus knew the prophecies; He knew Isaiah’s proclamation that He would be a “light to the nations, reaching out to the ends of the earth.” It is through this encounter with the Canaanite woman that this reality come out in the presence of the disciples, right before their very eyes and ears. Jesus uses this instance to show that faith and goodness, salvation and mercy are not to be contained – but belong everywhere, to all people.. What we see and hear is God using this woman as an instrument to expand the narrow vision that the disciples had of their Lord and of His mission and of what He was meant to be to all peoples. Jesus used this woman to show them that God’s love and mercy is greater than their narrow expectations, more encompassing than their biases and prejudices.

Of course we haven’t gotten too far with this idea over the centuries! We look at people and attempt to determine their worth based on how they dress, how good looking they are, by the car they drive, by the house they live in or how well they speak English.

Even within the Church, I have heard some of this. People complain that we waste time and resources having Mass in Spanish. I have heard the same when it comes to the Archdiocese ministry to the Vietnamese community – why can’t they just worship like us. After all those people are in America, they need to learn how to speak English, right? No, that is completely wrong!!! We forget that the primary reason that there are so many grand and beautiful churches in the area is the Archdiocese’s outreach over the last 2 centuries to communities that spoke no English … to the French, Italian, German and Irish.

So how can we apply the lessons in the scripture today to our daily lives? Perhaps God can use this Canaanite woman to teach us a few things as well, or at least to remind us of things that we already know but tend to forget. Here are some things to ponder as you go through your week.

Maybe contemplate on this question – How would I feel if someone who dressed and looked like Osama bin Laden were to kneel down to worship next to me in the pew? Would I make him feel welcomed or would I scoot over to the middle of the pew so that I would not have to shake his hand at the sign of peace?

At the end of all Sunday Masses in the Archdiocese, we pray for an end to violence, hatred, and racism in our community. Ask yourself this week: Am I taking this prayer to heart or are they just words to a rote prayer that I say? Am I moved to action by this prayer or am I going to remain a spectator in the new Battle of New Orleans.

As we prepare to approach the table of the Eucharist, we must leave behind any attitudes, thoughts, or feelings of exclusiveness or prejudice. For indeed, we are all one body in Christ and our God is the one God of all

Lean on Him

2011-07-04T20:31:00.000-05:00

Homily, Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary TIme

It became the first and only song to be #1 on both the R&B and Billboard Hot 100 charts. Numerous cover versions have been recorded, including one by the cast of the TV Show Glee. It is one of only 9 songs to hit No. 1 with versions recorded by two different artists. Mary J. Blige covered the song and sang it at the last presidential inauguration.

The chorus of this Bill Withers goes like this:

“ Lean on me, when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
'Til I'm gonna need Somebody to lean on”

Why was this song, Lean on Me, so popular when I was a teenager and why has it endured for 40 years? The original vocals and musical arrangement are very, very simple. The tune is not catchy. It’s not really a dance song. So why?   It is because the message that everyone needs someone to lean on and the sincere offer to be that person resonates with people of all ages.

As believers in Jesus Christ, we should not become overwhelmed by our troubles and burdens but learn to lean on Him.

We are all living our lives with some sort of difficulty. Many burdens are caused by things that are out of our control. Some are unemployed or under-employed. We are all carrying the burden of ever-increasing energy costs and the inflationary rise they cause in the cost of everything else. Others are worried how their biopsy is going to come out or the result of some other medical test.

Yet many other burdens that we have are self-inflected. We eat a rich diet and don’t understand why we are overweight, out of shape and have all of the health issues associated with it. We don’t understand why we have financial problems, but get mortgages that we cannot ever dream of paying off and buy cars and other toys we do not need and cannot really afford. Many of us are deeply worried about retirement, but never bothered to save when we were young.

The good news is, whether our burdens are caused by things out of our control or are self-inflicted, there is help, there is hope!   We've just heard Jesus say to us: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” Wow! Relieve my burdens. Give me rest. I am all for that! How could anyone not be attracted to what Jesus offers us? Then, why is He so ignored by so many? Even by us?

Well for one thing, to let Jesus relieve our burdens, we would have to change the way we live our lives. Who wants to do that? We want our burdens lifted, but we want to live as the rest of the world lives. The Christian message has been so distorted over the last 50 years or so, that it is no longer recognizable. Some preachers and denominations claim that faith in Christ removes all desire for sin. Others say that faith removes all doubt and fear. You may have heard of health and wealth theology - if you believe in Jesus Christ, all of your family will have perfect health, you will have all of the money that you ever need, your children will be angels, and you will never have problems! Does that describe any family here? Not mine. None of this is true! It is false Christianity

So what is the message? Why would Jesus’ yoke be easy? Religion could be a terrible burden for the mostly uneducated people Jesus’ day. There were 613 laws in the Torah, plus thousands of religious laws made up by the Pharisees.

There were laws created as sort of perimeter to make sure that the laws in the Torah were not broken; then laws to protect those laws. All of these were known as fence laws. So much to know and, for desperately poor peasants, so little time to learn. These laws were also known as “the yoke.” For example we all know that the Torah prohibits work on the Sabbath. Planting or sowing was one of the tasks that was defined as "work" in the law. To protect that law, it was determined that if one dropped a bean or a piece of fruit with seeds in it on the ground, that would be considered sinful, as the was potential "sowing" and therefore potential work.

For those who were burdened by the guilt incurred by numerous violations of the “yoke”, Jesus offers his own “yoke.”   “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart” Jesus invites the “little ones” —those rejected by the powers that be — to come to him. He tells them that if they want to relieve their burdens, that they should live like Him, be gentle, humble and meek. It was not easy then…. as it is not easy now.
What are we to do? How do we let Jesus help us with our burdens? If Jesus were here in human form and we had a chance to ask him that question, his answer would be simple – KNOW ME,… do what I do,… live like I live,…. love like I love. That means we are called to live more simply, to use things and love our fellow man, rather than love things and use people. I urge each of us to go home this weekend and examine how we spend our time and money and ask these questions – is my lifestyle conducive to furthering the Christian life ? Is my life really better because I have this thing or do that activity? Is this helping in my quest for heaven? If the answer is not a resounding yes, then maybe Jesus is telling you that you need a change? Perhaps?

And what about the burdens that we have that are of no fault of our own in any way whatsoever? Miraculous help and miraculous cures certainly do happen. But these are extraordinary events. The ordinary way that Jesus helps us with burdens is that … Well, that is why he gave us each other; to lift each other up… You know Lean on Me, when you’re not strong.

As Catholics, the Mass should be central in helping us live as someone who is taking up Jesus’ yoke. The changes coming at Advent are intended to help us do that in a better way.   Each one of us has a role in making Jesus come alive through the Mass. As a Deacon, I proclaim the Gospel, preach this homily and assist at the Eucharist as part of the ordinary role and responsibility given to me at my ordination. The priest presides, leads us in prayer, consecrates and offers the body and blood of Christ. As a community of the faithful, by virtue of your Baptism, each of us has a role to make the Gospel and Eucharist alive in the community, in the pew and to the entire world by the way you live. I challenge all of us to contemplate on these questions – if I am coming to Mass and not being changed, even in some very small way, is something wrong? It would be easy to blame it on the mediocre preaching or complain about the music. But Jesus is here in word and in Sacrament. What do I need to differently? Do I need a different attitude toward my role and the Mass?

Everything depends upon how closely you will let Jesus come to you. Are we ready to change our lives and give up our burdens? Are we ready to lean on each other? Are we ready to let others lean on us? And most importantly, are we ready to lean on Jesus?

Catholic Position on In Vitro Fertilization

2011-06-22T13:23:00.001-05:00

Click this link for a great explanation of the Catholic position on IVF. with Father Tad Pacholczyk, Ph.D, a brilliant Catholic bio-ethicist. This show is nearly a half-hour, so make sure you allocate enough time to fully watch and understand.

Belonging to God. What's with That.

2011-05-27T16:28:00.000-05:00

This is an approximation of my homily for Saturday May 28, 2011 delivered at the morning Communion Service at St Luke the Evangelist Catholic Church in Slidell, LA . This is the Saturday of the 5th Week of Easter. The readings are Acts 16:1-10, 100:1b-2, 3, 5 and Jn 15:18-21

See the pyramids along the Nile, watch the sunrise from a tropic isle.
Just remember darling all the while, you belong to me.

See the market place in old Algiers. Send me photographs and souvenirs.
Just remember when a dream appears, you belong to me.

I'd be so alone without you,

Maybe you'd be lonesome too in blue

Fly the ocean in a silver plane. See the jungle when it's wet with rain.
Just remember till you're home again, you belong to me.

I'd be so alone without you
Maybe you'd be lonesome too in blue

Fly the ocean in a silver plane. See the jungle when it's wet with rain.
Just remember till you're home again. You belong to me

- 1952 by Chilton Price, Redd Stewart and Pee Wee King. Sung by Jo Stafford

The song was written from a lover to a beloved. What does this have to do with today’s readings. The Gospel says. “you do not belong to the world and I have chosen you out of the world.” What does it mean that we belong to the Lord and not to the world? Our answer to this question is at the core to how we live our lives.

Elsewhere in this same discourse as today’s Gospel, which was given at the Last Supper, Jesus gives an indication of what it means to belong to Him - "If you love me you will keep my commandments" and then he summarizes what this means when he says "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."

The love of which our Lord speaks, as is evident from His example and as his teaching, is active and practical. It involves not only our heart but our whole being. We are to use our minds and bodies in the service of God and neighbor. To belong to the Lord, then, means to, at all times, dedicate our whole activity to His service. We are to remember that we belong to him as we go about our work, when we play, when we cheer the Saints to victory, when we are sweating in the sun working in our yards.

This constant dedication to belong to the Lord is not easy. How can we do this? One suggestion that I offer is to remain indifferent to all things of the world. What does that mean? St. Ignatius of Loyola writes beautifully on this in his First Principle and Foundation from the beginning of the Spiritual Exercises. Ignatius explains:

“ The human person is created to praise, reverence, and serve God Our Lord, and by doing so, to save his or her soul. All other things on the face of the earth are created for human beings in order to help them pursue the end for which they are created. It follows from this that one must use other created things, in so far as they help towards one's end, and free oneself from them, in so far as they are obstacles to one's end.

To do this, we need to make ourselves indifferent to all created things, provided the matter is subject to our free choice and there is no other prohibition. Thus, as far as we are concerned, we should not want health more than illness, wealth more than poverty, fame more than disgrace, a long life more than a short one, and similarly for all the rest, but we should desire and choose only what helps us more towards the end for which we are created.”

Pro-Life Talk From An Almost Abortion Victim "Abortion is the biggest tragedy facing America..."

2011-05-13T13:38:00.000-05:00

David Scotton, A junior at Jesuit High in New Orleans, recently won second place for his speech in the Louisiana State Pro Life Oratory contest. The picture, originally from the Jesuit website , is of Scotton addressing the student body after a recent Community Mass.

Scotton urged his fellow Blue Jays to get involved in the Pro Life movement and to speak out
against “the holocaust of our times.” Rather than risking misquoting this young man, I urge you to listen to the talk yourself here. God Bless.

Nuremberg Trials: A Model For Adjudicating International Terrorists?

2011-05-04T22:21:00.007-05:00

The Nuremberg Trials were a series of tribunals, held by the main victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany. The trials were held in the city of Nuremberg, Germany, hence the name. The judges were Soviet, American, British and French.

Allied leaders were not in agreement of how the to handle the criminals. Stalin and FDR wanted to summarily execute tens of thousands of German officers. Churchill was a strong supported of the rule of law and following the judicial process. When FDR died and Truman took office, Truman strongly pushed for following the rule of law. This was the approach finally accepted.

Considering the tens of millions slaughtered by the Nazis, al Qaeda terrorists are amateurs. Real pikers, these Al Qaeda folks. To become big-time mass murders, they should have studied Nazi techniques. As an alternative to the approach taken with Osama bin Laden, could this be an appropriate method of adjudicating the crimes of the latest generation of international terrorists? Does the rule of law apply even to those who lived completely outside of the law? Doug Linder of the University of Missouri - Kansas City wrote an excellent background and summary of the trial.

"No trial provides a better basis for understanding the nature and causes of evil than do the Nuremberg trials from 1945 to 1949. Those who come to the trials expecting to find sadistic monsters are generally disappointed. What is shocking about Nuremberg is the ordinariness of the defendants: men who may be good fathers, kind to animals, even unassuming--yet who committed unspeakable crimes. Years later, reporting on the trial of Adolf Eichmann, Hannah Arendt wrote of "the banality of evil." Like Eichmann, most Nuremberg defendants never aspired to be villains. Rather, they over-identified with an ideological cause and suffered from a lack of imagination or empathy: they couldn't fully appreciate the human consequences of their career-motivated decisions.

Twelve trials, involving over a hundred defendants and several different courts, took place in Nuremberg from 1945 to 1949. By far the most attention--not surprisingly, given the figures involved--has focused on the first Nuremberg trial of twenty-one major war criminals. Several of the eleven subsequent Nuremberg trials, however, involved conduct no less troubling--and issues at least as interesting--as the Major War Criminals Trial. For example, the trial of sixteen German judges and officials of the Reich Ministry (The Justice Trial) considered the criminal responsibility of judges who enforce immoral laws. (The Justice Trial became the inspiration for the acclaimed Hollywood movie, Judgment at Nuremberg.) Other subsequent trials, such as the Doctors Trial and the Einsatzgruppen Trial, are especially compelling because of the horrific events described by prosecution witnesses. (These three subsequent trials each receive separate coverage elsewhere in this website.)"

Read the rest of this article here.

Mercy in Confession

2011-05-02T21:22:00.001-05:00

This is an approximation of the homily I delivered at the 4:00 PM Vigil Mass for the 2nd Sunday in Easter, April 30,2011 also known as Divine Mercy Sunday.

You may have heard the phrase, no pain, no gain. Of course, it means that if you do not exercise hard, so hard that it really hurts, that you will not realize any gains. Right? You see it on posters, in commercials and hear it gyms. Of course it is true. Except, that it is the biggest exercise myth of all time. Hmmm…

When Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot earlier this year in Arizona, Reuters, National Public Radio, the BBC, and CNN reported her death. Yesterday the very undead Congresswoman Giffords was at the Kennedy Space Center hoping to see her astronaut husband in the Space Shuttle launch.

While evacuated during the days immediately after Hurricane Katrina, among other things, I read on various official news sites: The water tower on Robert had been blown over and St Margaret Mary Parish was under 6 feet of water. Imagine my surprise several days later when I returned and spoke with Fr. Thomas in the sanctuary at St, Margaret Mary with the intact water tower in the background.

We need to ask ourselves – who do we trust? Friends at the health club? The government? The media?

As a people of faith the one person we must learn to trust is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

In the Gospel today, we encounter the Apostles hiding out, terrified that they will receive the same fate as Jesus. The resurrected Lord appears and tells the apostles to be at peace and then he says, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”

To understand this passage, it is helpful to break it into smaller parts. “As the Father sent me, so I send you.” What does this mean? Why did the Father send Jesus to earth? The simple answer is – to reconcile God and man? Why did God and man need reconciling? What separated us? In a word – sin.   So the first part of this passage means that Jesus is commissioning the Apostles, the first bishops of the Church, giving them his authority, to go out and reconcile men with God. How? That comes in the next few sentences.

“He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit” What does that mean? The word used here. Ruah, means both "breath" and "spirit”. To breathe upon someone was to confer your spirit. In the case of Jesus, it meant he was empowering the apostles by a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit, for a unique and special ministry. What is that ministry? We find out in the next sentence.

“Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” You know, the Bible is not always straightforward. Some passages can be quite complicated and confusing. This, however, is one of the most plain, straightforward passages out of scripture. Jesus gives the apostles the power and authority to forgive or not to forgive sins. So, to restate this passage in its entirety, Jesus tells the apostles “Here is a special dose of the Holy Spirit. Under my authority, you have the power to forgive sins. Go out and continue my mission to reconcile sinful man to God.”

Do we believe the very words that come from the mouth of Jesus? Do we trust Jesus? Do we really
If so, why, no matter when or where I go there never seems to be a long line for confession? There were approximately 3000 people at Mass on Easter weekend. If everyone went just twice a year, it would mean that our priests would be hearing over 120 confessions a week!   We never see lines like that here, do we?

One of the reasons that I have heard is that “I am basically a good person. I am not doing anything wrong. I don’t have the need for confession.” Oh really? We may have forgotten what sin is. Are we holier than the Pope? He goes to Confession weekly? Whose sins you forgive are forgiven... Do we trust Jesus?

Then I hear .. I have not been in so long. The priest is going to be mad at me. I am embarrassed. To the contrary. Like the Father in the story of the prodigal son, the priest will welcome you back with great joy. Take it from me. As a young man, I was away from Confession for more than ten years. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven… Do we trust Jesus?

I don’t need to confess my sins to a priest. I can go directly to God and tell him I am sorry. Really? Is that what Jesus says? If so, why did he commission the Apostles to forgive sins?

Another thing that I hear is that some have trouble believing that their sins are forgiven because they do not necessarily feel different when they walk out of the confessional. They confess the same sin over and over again. They have trouble believing that their sins are forgiven because they still remember them, and they still struggle with the temptations and the weaknesses that are there because of those sins.

The devil is very happy to remind us of some of our most shameful sins. He waves them in front of us to show what a horrible sinners he wants us to think we are.. It is a common temptation of Satan to say, "You know those sins you committed back when you were a teenager – how do you know that they’re gone?"     Do you trust Jesus? Whose sins you forgive are forgiven…

Jesus is always there for us, ready for us to trust in Him, ready to pour up His fountain of Mercy.
Here is a suggestion on how to keep this in mind. Follow the ABC's.

A. Ask for His mercy. In your daily prayer. In your regular Confession. Nowhere will we ever experience God’s mercy more than in the sacrament of reconciliation.

B. Be merciful. Don’t act with justice, act with mercy. We radiate God's mercy to others by our actions, our words, and our prayers. It is mainly through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy that we practice mercy in our daily lives and become eligible for God’s merciful judgment. Remember, as we pray the Lord’s prayer, we ask God to forgive us to the same degree that we forgive others. “Forgive us our trespasses, as we …”

C. Complete trust in Jesus. He told the truth. He was not joking when he said “whose sins you forgive are forgiven..”

Now the question each one of us needs to ask of our own selves is- Who do I trust? The media? The government? Our Lord and Savior?     My Jesus I trust in you.

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

2011-05-02T11:15:00.004-05:00

Osama bin Laden is dead. Killed in a gun battle by Navy special forces and CIA paramilitary. Shot through the left eye they say. Mission accomplished? Certainly if the mission was the death of bin Laden, then yes, the mission is accomplished. Outside of that, success is not so certain.

Is the world a safer place? Probably not. Is the United States a safer place? Most certainly not. At least in the near-term, our own government admits that there are some new dangers. The U.S. Department of state has issued new travel warnings in the wake of bin Laden's death. You can read about those here.

Do the families and victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 have either justice or revenge? You can see from this article in the Des Moines Register and many others like it that some relatives of the victims of that awful terrorist attack feel some sense of closure. I cannot say that I blame them.

Mohandas Ghandi has been quoted as saying "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." ( Since making this original post, I have been admonished that it is dubious that Ghandi ever actually said this. http://www.ncregister.com/blog/vatican-statement-on-bin-ladens-death/ Regardless, the concept that perpetual vengeance is futile still has much merit.) There is some serious wisdom in that statement. The group September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows seems to agree. The group's aim is to promote dialogue on alternatives to war, while educating and raising the consciousness of the public on issues of war, peace, and the underlying causes of terrorism. You can read about this group, their membership and mission here. The group, however, is remarkably silent on the events of yesterday leading up to the death of bin Laden.

While the killing of bin Laden may be considered to some extent "justice", it does not bring back a single one of the souls lost in the attacks or the subsequent wars. I had no relatives or friends killed in that despicable act. Had my best friend, wife, father or child been a victim, maybe I would feel differently. I hope and pray not.

Except perhaps those individuals and corporations who are profiting from the wars, military actions and tensions around the world, it is likely safe to assume that no one likes the situation that the world is in. Trillions are being spent on armaments that could otherwise be used to further the development of the human race as a whole. Countless lives have been lost, many others have been maimed and injured. "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

In figuring out how to get out of this "situation", it might be helpful to understand how it started in the first place. A public television station headquartered in the United Kingdom, has a concise and fairly unbiased account of the history of the area we call the middle east. Written by Jenny Vaughn, this article chronicles the rise of Islamic fundamentalism from the beginning of Islam in 622, through the of World Wars I and II to the attacks on September 11, 2001. Investing a little bit of your time to understand the history of the area and people might be helpful before forming an opinion. You will find that the history is complicated. The ultimate solution, if there is one, is likely to be more complicated.

Some say by tracking down and killing terrorists, we will make the next one stop and think twice before committing the next act of terror. There is not even a remote chance of this being true.
The Muslim understanding of martyrdom, although certainly complex with a deep theology attached to it, describes men and women who die in conflict ‘witnessing to the truth’ of Islam to non-believers. And the reward for this valor is understood to be instant entrance into heaven.

This notion of martyrdom can be applied to the Afghans who died fighting the Soviets in the 1980s, as well as to Hamas suicide bombers who blow themselves up in Israeli cafes. This is not to suggest that all Muslims condone suicide bombings, but to explain the broad use of the martyrdom label in the Muslim world. What is also significant is that martyrdom is theologically tied to the concept of Jihad.

Have we forgotten about those who willingly strap bombs to their bodies and blow themselves up in places for maximum effect? Do we remember that the crews who hijacked and crashed the planes in the 9-11 attacks did so, for the most part, willingly?

My own view is that Islamic Fundamentalists are going to glorify bin Laden as a martyr. I fear that just as the blood of the early Christian martyrs fertilized the soil of the faith and caused it to grow, so shall the blood of these terrorists do the same for radical Islam. We are never going to be able to make enough bombs or spend enough money in the military to gain peace. Maybe it is time to start talking. The world is going to run out of eyes. What do you think?

A Little Tongue In Cheek Humor For The Holidays

2010-12-15T16:18:00.002-06:00

Those who know me well have heard me rant and rave about the loss of manufacturing jobs in the United States. As the years flow on, this sad state of affairs is going to hurt our economy more and more. Not everyone has the aptitude to be a technology worker. Manufacturing jobs provided good income, security and pride of workmanship to generations of Americans. No more.

In my view, there are two primary drivers for this. On one hand you have consumers who want to pay the absolutely lowest price for every durable good purchase. Most other aspects such as quality, convenience, support of the local community fall a distant second in consideration. Shame on us. I am willing to pay a little extra for an equivalent domestic product of equal or better quality. The problem is, in most cases, the product cannot be found. Shoes, socks, electronics, tires, furniture and just about everything else is made in China.

On the other hand you have retailers who want to squeeze every single penny of profit out of every transaction. Large retailers squeeze every end of the marketing chain. Employee pay and benefits get squeezed. Suppliers get squeezed over and over and over for lower costs. This leads to most domestic suppliers going out of business due to their inability to pay a living wage to its employees despite dramatic improvements in efficiency.

A few weeks ago, I opened a brand new, very expensive Cisco phone to be configured for use in our hospital. Included in the box was hardware to wall mount the phone if needed. I got a chuckle out of the labeling on the package containing the nuts and bolts. It somewhat expressed my feeling on this whole issue. I have included a picture of it for you below.

I hope you get a little chuckle out of it also. I wonder how this ever got but the label censors!!!

Be Not Afraid - We All Have Storms In Our Lives

2010-12-15T06:00:00.000-06:00

I delivered this homily in my home parish, St. Luke the Evangelist on June 21, 2009 for the 12th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B. Scripture readings were:

First Reading Job 38:1,8-11
Psalm Psalm 107:23-24,25-26,28-29,30-31
Second Reading 2 Corinthians 5:14-17
Gospel Mark 4:35-41

Almost all of us have had storms in our lives that caused us to fear. Some of are literal storms, like Katrina. More often, our storms are events that seem like they are going to destroy us. Maybe for you, the storm is economic. Possibly you are in serious debt, have trouble paying your bills, have lost your job, or are in danger of losing your job.

Some of us have stormy relationships. Someone you thought to be your friend has hurt you badly. Maybe we you are having a difficult time with a boyfriend or girlfriend, maybe you are struggling in your marriage.

As a people of faith, we need to not fear and know that God is with us through the storms.

In today’s Gospel from Mark, we find the disciples in a fishing boat with Jesus. He had been teaching all day to a large crowd. In fact the crowd was so large, Jesus got in the boat and was using the boat as a place to preach from, much like the ambo that I am preaching from today.

Prior to this scene, Jesus had been going around the countryside doing some pretty amazing things. Among other things he had driven out demons, healed a man with leprosy, told the paralyzed man to pick up his mat and walk, and healed the man with the withered hand.

Back to the scene of today’s Gospel. At the end of the day he tells his disciples to pull up anchor and take him to the other side. The sea , Galilee, was very treacherous, and the sky probably looked threatening, but the disciples did as Jesus asked.

A storm came up, not just any storm, but a terrible one. Several of the disciples were fisherman, and were used to rough seas, so this storm was bad enough to terrify very experienced seamen.

Like the Apostles, one of the most common problems we face, is fear. The disciples were terror stricken, convinced they were drowning, shaken with fear. Even though they had seen the miracles that Jesus had performed, they were still frightened.

Fear is all around and in us: fear of the unknown; fear of rejection; fear of what other people might think; fear of being laughed at; fear of other people’s anger; fear of failure; the list goes on.

That fear paralyzes us, holds us back from true freedom. The disciples turn to Jesus in their panic, and implore him to care. He wakes, rebukes the wind and calms the sea, then asks them why they were afraid; where is their faith?

The message is clear. We, the Church, must turn to Jesus in the midst of our problems, trust him completely, and place ourselves in his hands. We must trust that He is present in our problems and difficulties, even when he seems to be in the stern, asleep.

He doesn’t prevent the storms from happening, but asks us to have faith that he is there, in the midst of our difficulties, to journey with us through them to peace and calm that only he can provide.

Job, in the first reading, is a beautiful example of this kind of faith and trust in God. The devil had told God that it was easy for Job to have faith in God, because he had been so blessed. God then allowed the devil to take away those blessings, and give him all kinds of problems.

God believed in Job, that his faith would not falter, and it didn’t, even when all seemed lost and his best friends were trying to convince him that he must have sinned for all those problems to have happened. This is similar to a common false teaching of today, sometimes called "health and wealth theology" which teaches that God blesses those that are good in this life with things in this life such as money, good health and long lives. Conversely, those who do bad things in this life are punished by God in this life with things such as poverty and disease. This is absolute nonsense and is neither supported by scripture nor by 2000 years of Christian tradition.

Not once did Job doubt, nor lose his faith in God. And in the end, God restored all of Job’s blessings a hundred fold. Again, the message is clear - trust God, trust Jesus, in the midst of our problems, and a way will be made clear for us.

So what specifically can we do?

First, be not afraid – these are the first words to the Church of the late Pope John Paul II. Scripture constantly tell us to not be afraid as Jesus told his disciples in today's Gospel.

Second, to help calm our fears, we should keep all of our problems in context with eternity. I heard Fr. John Corapi describe eternity once in such a beautiful way. Eternity is when a man takes one grain of sand from the beach. He carries that grain of sand to the top of the highest mountain in the world, each footstep taking 10,000 years. He returns to the beach, each footstep still taking 10,000 years. And when the man has finished clearing all of the sand from all of the beaches in the world, eternity has just begun! Looking at eternity this way can indeed make our passing problems seem smaller.

Finally, if we are in the midst of a personal storm, it is a good time to begin trusting in God. A simple prayer – Jesus, I have a little faith, please give me more, please let me trust in you – may help.

Just as the apostles safely passed through their storm on the Sea of Galilee with the help of our Lord, so too will we pass through our storms.

--
AMDG

Paul Augustin

NFL Players Association and Owners Appear to Be Blinded By Greed

2010-12-13T15:42:00.001-06:00

Fans and Taxpayers Foot The Bill for Wealthy Players and Owners

With the upcoming playoff season and Super Bowl, professional football fans might have forgotten that the 2011 NFL season may be canceled due to financial disputes between owners and the National Football League Players Association.

If, the details of the issues may seem complicated, please allow me to simplify the issues for you. Issue number one is MONEY. Issue number two is MONEY. All of the issues are about money. The players want more of a share of the revenue, the owners want the players to have less of a share of the revenue.

What we have are two groups of people with riches out of proportion to their actual worth to society. These groups are blinded by money and greed, and are getting greedier. That may sound shocking coming from an author who is an admitted football fan, but it is the cold, hard truth.

The minimum salary for an NFL player with no experience is just a little over $300,000 per year. The minimum salary for 2009-2010 for a teacher in the New Orleans school system is $39,813.   If teachers stay for 25 years and earn a doctorate degree in education, they can get their salaries all the way up to a whopping $58,000. You can look at the entire pay scale for any Louisiana school district here.   The lowest average salary for NFL players are those at the tight end position. They make $863,000 on average.

Is our society hurt more by an NFL lockout, our by historical poor pay for our teachers?   The answer should be self-evident. As a whole, teachers add far more value to society than professional football players, yet the subject of the NFL lockout has and will receive more attention than the decay of our schools. The same holds true when comparing the societal value of professional football players to police officers, minsters, firefighters, nurses and numerous other professions.

Before we get to far, let us not be led to believe that this is primarily a problem of players making too much money. Owners are as much to blame as the players and their union. According to Forbes magazine, the least valuable NFL franchise is the Jacksonville Jaguars , owned by Wayne Weaver. The current estimated value of the Jaguars is $725 million. Weaver bought the franchise in 1993 for $208 million. Has your 401-K done this well?

My defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints, owned by Thomas Benson, who bought them in 1985 for $70 million, are now worth just shy of $1 billion.   This however, is mere chicken feed compared to the most valuable franchise in the league. The Dallas Cowboys , owned by Jerral Jones are estimated to be worth $1.8 billion. Jones bought the Cowboys in 1989 for $150 million.

Where did this skyrocketing net worth come from? It came from you and me and every other NFL fan that purchases a game ticket, hot dog, pennant or any of the thousands of officially licensed NFL products. What does the fan get in return? For certain there is some pride when your team does well. My family was in that number braving the cold weather to greet the triumphant Saints at their Super Bowl parade last year.

There is obviously some real monetary value to the city when fans from opposing teams come to visit. There is even more value for those few cities who are lucky enough to host a Super Bowl. But in general, franchises take more money out of an area than they put in. Any Saints fan older than a teenager can remember the franchise threatening to leave the city unless a new stadium was built and if more subsidies were not paid. At the time, the state was paying the Saints $23 million in direct subsidies. For an eye opening look at government subsidies to billionaire sports franchise owners, read this interesting article from Matthew Stevenson entitled The Football Franchise Hustle: Financing the NFL.

Let me make it clear that I absolutely like having an NFL franchise in my city. I am not claiming that there are not some wonderful football players who contribute much to society. There absolutely are. Drew Brees has done much for the city of New Orleans. Saints offensive lineman Zach Strief and his wife Mandy are ardent supporters of Cafe Reconcile in central city New Orleans. Many NFL owners do much to support various charities.

It seems to me that our fervor for the NFL as well as other professional sports is out of proportion to the value we receive. This post is just food for thought. It has been said by many wiser than I that if you want to find out what is most important to a group of people, look at how they spend their time and their money. Where do we spend ours?

Generosity Can Bring Us Closer To God

2010-12-10T12:34:00.002-06:00

I delivered this homily the weekend of October 10 / 11 2009 at my home parish of St. Luke the Evangelist in Slidell LA,. This is the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B. The Mass readings were:

Wis 7:7-11

Heb 4:12-13

Mk 10:17-30

One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Those are the opening lines of the short story “ A Gift of the Magi” by the author O. Henry. The title of the story may not ring a bell, but many of you are familiar with the plot.

Della Young is sitting in her very low rent apartment on Christmas Eve. She has saved all year to buy a fitting Christmas gift for her young husband, James. All she has managed to amass is one dollar and eighty seven cents. But she does have one prized possession – her long beautiful brown hair. So, she decides to go to a wig maker and sell her hair so that she can buy a chain for her husband’s pocket watch. The pocket watch had been handed down from Jim’s grandfather, to his father to him. He was ashamed to pull it out because all he had to hold it was an old, beat up leather strap.

Meanwhile James decides to sell his pocket watch so that he can buy a set of beautiful combs that his wife had been admiring in the store window all year. You can imagine their surprise when they exchange gifts.

James and Della were poor, but were willing to part with their most prize possessions for the love of one another.

As a people of faith, we must be become that detached from our worldly possessions so that we can more fully follow our Lord Jesus.

In our Gospel today, Jesus encounters a good man, a wealthy man who asks a simple question. "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus essentially tells the man – keep the commandments and the man says – “I have done that my whole life.” This is when Jesus issues the challenge – “Very well, sell all that you have, give the money to the poor and come follow me.”

The man walked away sad. Why? Because he had many possessions and could not part with them. That is the key – he was a good man - he followed all of the commandments – but he could not part with his riches. His things were more important than Jesus.

Now, you may think – I’m not rich so this does not apply to me!! I am off the hook!!!! Not so fast! The message that Jesus is giving us is that we cannot let out attachment to anyone or anything get in the way of following him.

We know in our heads that everything we have, our very lives comes from God and belongs to him. But do we always live like we know it?

Even those of us that do not have many possessions may be attached to something. Maybe it is a person or people. Perhaps it is our parents, spouse, children, friends, boyfriend or girlfriend. We cannot put any person ahead of our relationship with the Lord God.

It has been said that if you want to see what is truly important to someone, look how they spend their time. Each one of us should ask ourselves– how do I spend my time? What about or jobs? Do we work so hard or so many hours that we do not have time for daily prayer? How much time are we putting into sports, television, video games and other hobbies compared to the time we put into our relationship with God? Are we willing to give these up in order to enter eternal life?

The message of the Gospels is consistent and clear – anything that gets between you and your eternal life has t go. Two weeks ago we heard – if your eye cause you to sin, pluck it out, if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. Better to enter heaven maimed that stay whole and enter eternal damnation.

So how can we become detached from things so as to follow Jesus more fully? First, I would suggest to develop the habit of generosity. Generous people tend to be happier and well adjusted emotionally. What can we do?

• Share Your Time—Visit people who are alone or lonely. Teach what you know to a neighbor, your children, or a younger sibling. Be present with the people in your life, especially your family. Offer to help. Practice saying “yes.”

• Share Your Talents—No one else can do exactly what you do. Whether singing, cooking, drawing, or playing sports, your talents are for sharing with others. When used generously, the good they provide is immeasurable! Seek opportunities to selflessly volunteer in your civic and faith community

• Share Your Treasure—Set aside part of your allowance or paycheck to regularly help those less fortunate then you.

• Share Your Faith—What better gift to give?! Invite a friend who is unchurched or just seeking to know God Better to come to Mass

Jesus tells the apostles that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. The Gospel says that the apostles are astonished!!! Not surprised, not upset – astonished. And they ask him – who can be saved.

Jesus does not say, “just do it”. No, he knows it is difficult and says “With God all things are possible.” I encourage you to ask God each day in your prayer for the gift of generosity.

Some of you know that I am going to Manresa for my annual retreat in the format of the Spiritual Exercise. St Ignatius summed up the Spiritual Exercises with the following that I would like to read to you.

“.. one must use other created things, in so far as they help towards one's end, and free oneself from them, in so far as they are obstacles to one's end. To do this, we need to make ourselves indifferent to all created things.

Thus, as far as we are concerned, we should not want health more than illness, wealth more than poverty, fame more than disgrace, a long life more than a short one, and similarly for all the rest, but we should desire and choose only what helps us more towards the end for which we are created.”

Can we become like Jim and Della in the gift of the Magi, and become indifferent to all other created things for the love of the one we should love the most, the Lord Jesus?

We Have A Responsibility To Seek The Truth

2010-12-09T06:15:00.003-06:00

This homily was delivered at my home parish, St. Luke the Evangelist for the 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time in July 2009. The scripture readings for the day were:
1st reading: Jer 23:1-6
Responsorial Psalm :Ps 23:1-3, 3-4, 5, 6
2nd Reading: Eph 2:13-18
Gospel: Mk 6:30-34

On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was sitting in the waiting room of a doctor’s office watching the CBS morning news. Suddenly, a special report broke in and began showing the World Trade Center in flames.

Some of you may remember the events of early 1983 in Waco Texas. A group headed by a man named David Koresh, was held siege by the FBI and ATF. During a raid of their ranch, their Church building caught on fire and 76 members of the cult died.

For those of you who are my age or older, you may remember the name Jim Jones. In late 1978, 909 inhabitants of his compound called the People’s Temple, died in an apparent mass suicide. You may recall that they drank grape Kool-Aid laced with cyanide and narcotics.

What do all of these events have in common? They are the results of false teachings and false prophets. In the September 11th attacks, members of an extreme branch of the Sunni Muslims became so convinced by their leader Osama bin Laden, of the need to propagate Islam and kill infidel Americans, that they were willing to hijack and crash planes into population centers and thereby become martyrs.

David Koresh’s sect, known as the Branch Davidians, were an offshoot of the 7th Day Adventist Church. Koresh had convinced the cult members that he was the next Messiah. Part of the religion was that Koresh could take as many wives as he felt necessary. And he did just that, 15 of them, some of them being as young as 12 years old.

Jim Jones, the charismatic leader of the People’s Temple church, taught a bizarre blend of Communism, free love, drug use along with the fact that he was the reincarnation of Jesus, Gandhi, Buddha and Vladimir Lenin among others. Many people have been misled throughout history because of false teachers and false prophets.

As a people of faith, it us our responsibility to seek out the truth and ensure that we are not lead astray.

Today’s readings remind us that not everyone who teaches is a prophet, not everyone who teaches draws us to God. The first reading today, from the Prophet Jeremiah, tells us about shepherds who claim to be leading God's people and yet who scatter them. The prophet says that these false leaders put their own existence at peril when he writes “Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter my flock.”

Why did I open this homily with example of false teachers and false prophets that are obviously and clearly off the beaten path? Surely we are not in danger of falling prey to these false prophets or teachers?

Or are we?

We live in a popular culture that says that I should be able to do anything, right?

Everyone does it, it must be OK?

Our secular society is the most dangerous false teacher around. Some of the errors that the Catholic population has absorbed from our popular culture include beliefs on contraception, sterilization, cohabitation, abortion, and euthanasia.

Although the Church teaches that contraception and sterilization are gravely sinful, it is estimated that nearly 75% of Catholic couples use artificial contraceptives or are sterilized, the same rate as the population as a whole. Interesting that every Christian denomination in the world saw contraception sinful for the first 1930 years of the faith and that it was actually illegal in the US until the 1960’s.

Despite the fact that the Church teaches that it is grave sin, 49% of American Catholics feel that it is okay for an unmarried couple to cohabitate before marriage. This percent is consistent with the American population as a whole.

A day rarely goes by where we do not hear about a prominent Catholic politician or judge causing public scandal by taking positions opposite of the Church on life issues such as abortion, euthanasia, gay marriage and embryonic stem cell research.

How are we forming our beliefs on what is right and what is wrong in matters of faith and morals? By observing what people say and do on TV shows, the movies, and other media?

Do we get our information on moral issues off of the Internet? There are some great, solid Catholic sites on the internet, however for every good site, there are at least a hundred that defend moral positions that are contrary to Church teaching and nearly 2000 years of Christian tradition.

Do we go to the Bible? Let’s see what the Bible says is the source of truth? In 1 Timothy 3:15, the apostle Paul writes that the Church is the Pillar and Foundation of Truth. So the Bible says not society, not the media, not your next-door neighbor, but the Church alone is the source of truth.

We refer to this truth with a five dollar word – the magisterium. Magisterium simply means the teaching authority of the Church. This teaching authority relates to matters of faith and morals and resides in the Pope along all the bishops of the Church. This includes the teachings of the Church councils throughout the ages. This DOES NOT include things such as matters of science (for example does the sun revolve around the earth or does the earth revolve around the sun) or Civil Law (what should my fine be for getting caught on one of those dreaded red light cameras ?)

So, where do we as ordinary Catholics not invited to the Church councils and not on a first name basis with the pope or the bishops around the world go to find out what the Church teaches on matters of faith and morals and why it teaches it?

Well the first place you can go is St Luke’s Church. You can be certain that with Fr Mark Lomax as your pastor, any answers you get to questions of faith and morals will be consistent with the teachings of the Church.

Another place you can go is the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Every Catholic home should have a copy and should be familiar with its organization and content.

There are a number of good solid apologetic organizations out there. Once that a can recommend is Catholic Answers. They have a great website which explains not only what the Church teaches, why we teach it, but also the history of why we teach it.

Jesus said " "I came into the world to bear witness to the truth." Be assured that when you openly seek the truth through Jesus and His Church, you will not be confused as Pilate was when he repsonded "Truth, what is truth."

A Catholic Ph.D. Looks At Humility In Economics

2010-12-08T18:31:00.001-06:00

The following is an interesting perspective on economics by Kevin E. Schmiesing

In the 2004 independent hit film, Napoleon Dynamite, the title character expresses his opinion in absolute terms: “This is pretty much the worst video ever made.” His brother, Kip, replies with incisive logic, “Like anyone can even know that.” In an age of government aggrandizement and intellectual vanity, Kip’s words could become a useful slogan.

The stimulus bill of 2009 is Exhibit A. When it was passed in February of that year, President Obama and his economic advisers insisted that it would prevent unemployment from exceeding 8 percent.

Like anyone can even know that.

By October 2009, unemployment stood at 10.1 percent. It has now remained above 9 percent for 19 months, the longest such stretch since World War II. Politicians and the economists who serve them believe that the government can “create” jobs by spending money, oblivious to the short-term and long-term costs of higher taxes and/or higher deficits. The economy is a complex system influenced by innumerable factors—psychological and material—which cannot be effectively tinkered with by injecting a few billion dollars here or there.

Similarly, Congress, proposing to reform the health care sector, posited that the industry was so complicated that the market could not adequately and accurately adjust to the vagaries of supply and demand. Instead, government boards and panels would calculate what insurance should cost; which health procedures represent necessary and valid expenses for 300 million people of diverse belief and practice; and what amount of end of life health care would be reasonable in every individual case of a dying Medicare patient.

Like anyone can even know that.

Click here for the rest of the story

Strengthening Faith

2009-03-08T18:52:00.009-05:00

(I placed a box of Nabisco Vanilla wafers on the ambo). You probably think the deacon has lost his mind. Deacon Paul is preaching on Vanilla wafers. Well, yes I am.

We all believe in many things that we do not understand and in many cases cannot see. We usually do not believe in things without reason. We take the word of reliable sources about things we do not understand so that we do not have to fully understand every thing that we interact with every day. We can see the effects of unseen things and we believe in them. In other words,people have an abundance of faith in everyday life.

For example, when we go to the Rouses (a local grocery chain) to buy a package of Nabisco Vanilla Wafers, we believe that there are indeed tasty cookies inside the box. Nabisco and Rouses are both reliable companies, so we have believe and trust.

We cannot see the sun’s ultraviolet rays. Yet we can see what happens if we spend the day fishing, swimming, or on the beach without sunscreen. Our skin gets red, we burn, we might even blister. We believe in the ultraviolet rays because we see it’s effects. An because reliable people such as Scientists and physicians tell us that it is UVA and UVB rays that are damaging our skin and thats we must wear sun screen, we generally believe what they say and follow their advice.

These are just 2 examples of well developed faith in many things in the natural world around us.

But, as the people of of our Lord Jesus Christ, we need to actively enrich and develop our faith in God and his Church.

Our first reading today start’s out with the words “God put Abraham to the test”. As a young boy, I had a children's bible that had this story in it. There was an artist’s rendition of this scene. Isaac was tied up, lying on a makeshift altar with a pile of wood nearby. Abraham had a large knife in his hand ready to sacrifice him. The depiction of this story terrified me… It made me wonder what sort of mean guy was God. Even as I grew older I could not understand this story for the longest time. I love my children deeply - what would I do if I heard God tell me to offer one of them up as a human sacrifice?

The story seems to imply that God did this just to test Abraham's faith, but if God knows all things he could have known Abraham's faith without the trauma. This means that the purpose of the test was not for God's benefit, but somehow it was for Abraham, and perhaps for you and I.

Abraham learned that if he has faith, and he does God's will, even when it seems like the hardest thing in the world, God will provide, and things will turn out well in the end. And God rewarded him by making him not just the father of Isaac, but the father of the Jews, and by extension the Christians. And these people would remember his faith forever, and remember the lesson that God will always provide.

In the Gospel today, we have the scene of the transfiguration. One thing we all need to keep in mind, is that although the apostles were following Jesus, they really did not understand him or his mission as the Messiah. In light of the upcoming passion and crucifixion of Jesus, this event was intended to strengthen the apostles and their faith.

The truly amazing thing is how quickly the disciples will forget. Peter, James and John have seen Jesus revealed in glory, but their courage will fail them at the cross. Peter will deny Jesus three times. Perhaps there is a lesson here for us. We, too, have experienced the hand of God in our lives, but we find faith difficult when trouble looms.

In modern times, God provides many things to help strengthen our faith. He knows, like in biblical times, that as humans, we need constant reminders and assurance. For many, the miracle of new life and the mysteries of the created universe are enough to remind us of the constant work of God in creation. Others need more.

Miraculous cures such as those experienced by pilgrims who have visited the site of the apparitions at Lourdes remind us of the action of God in the world.

Our faith, like our bodies and minds, will not become strengthened if we exert no effort on our parts. So what can we do in our everyday lives to help feed and strengthen our own faith in God?

For everyone, it is different. I cannot tell you what will work for you, but I can give you some ideas of what works for others. Attending Mass for an hour on Sunday and receiving the Holy Eucharist is great – a great start. However, can you imagine what would happen if a star athlete practiced only 1 hour a week or a student doing only one hour of homework and studying a week? We all need to do more to strengthen our faith.

When I asked my mother what things she did that helps strengthen her faith. She paused and said “When I pray the rosary. It’s hard for doubt and temptation to get into my head when I am praying the rosary.” Praying the rosary may be the thing for you. And if the rosary is not the thing that helps increase your faith – there are numerous other types of prayer – meditation, devotional, scripture reading – you need to find what works for you and do it. Maybe for the rest of lent we could sacrifice 15 to 30 minutes of television or other type of recreational activity and devote it to one or more types of prayer.

Maybe you can give your faith muscles a little exercise by putting into action Jesus’ words “whatever you do for the least of these – you do for me.” There are many opportunities in our own community for demonstrating corporal works of mercy . There are sick people in the hospital who need visiting, lonely people in nursing homes who need someone to talk with, people in our own parish who need help making ends meet.

Some may have difficult assenting to certain teachings of the Church concerning faith and morals. I was like that once. I had planned to leave the Church. Before I did, I wanted to prove that I was right and that the Church was wrong. I started an intellectual quest; you might call it a research project. I wanted to prove beyond a doubt that I was right and that the Church was wrong. Well I read and researched and studied over the period of a year. 1 by one, the things that I was certain that the Church was wrong about – much to my disappointment, I proved that the Church was right. After a while, I gave up and decided that on matters of faith and morals, I should listen to what the Church says.

For those who are struggling with teachings of the Church in these matters, I encourage you to do your own study. But when you do, be careful of the sources that you use. Some are reliable like Nabisco and Rouse’s, but many are not. Look deeply and carefully, because when you open them up, you might be surprised at what you find. (I took a banana out of the box of Vanilla Wafers)

Holy Family Homily - Transform the World By Making Your Family A Holy Family

2008-12-29T15:20:00.006-06:00

Reading 1 Sir 3:2-6, 12-14
Responsorial Psalm Ps 128:1-2, 3, 4-5
Reading II Col 3:12-21
Gospel Lk 2:22-40

There is a grammar school that puts on a very elaborate Nativity play each year. They always have plenty of people trying out for the roles of Mary and Joseph, because they are considered the starring roles. People like to try out for the role of the shepherds because the little boys like to carry around the shepherds staffs. There is never any problem getting people to fill the role of the magi, because of the really cool costumes they get to wear.

But there is always problems getting people to fill the role of the innkeeper. Partly because the role is so small and partly because the innkeepers is view as being a real mean guy.

This one particular year no one signed to try out, except one 3rd grade boy. He of course got the role. When it came time for his line, Joseph knocks on the door and asks for a place to stay. The little boy, answers, “No, I am really, really sorry, but we don’t have any room. But you and your wife look really tired. Why don’t you come in and rest your feet and have a cup of coffee.”

Well that brought down the house with laughter. But after meditating over this story, you realize something very important. That young buy must be raised in a household with an extraordinary amount of love and compassion, a modern day Holy Family.

As a people of faith, we are called to transform society by making our family a modern day Holy Family

What does it mean to be a Holy Family?

In the 2nd reading from Paul - there is a paragraph that always raises eyes. We tend to listen to only the parts that are convenient to what position we would like to defend. I think that some men, in particular, read “wives be subordinate to their husbands”, they develop temporary deafness when it comes to listening to the rest of the paragraph. When Paul writes the following

“Wives, be subordinate to your husbands, as is proper in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and avoid any bitterness toward them.”

- what does he mean? Paul explains this same thing in more detail in the 5th chapter of the letter to the Ephesians when he writes that Wives should be subordinate to their husbands, and that husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the Church. What did Christ do for the Church? He laid down his very life. So are modern husbands called to lay down their lives for their wives.

The same holds true relationship between children and parents. Children of course, as we heard in first reading from Sirach, are called to honor, love and respect their parents. This does not just apply to young children as they grow up in the parent's home, but to adults as their parents age and have difficulty taking care of themselves. Parents, beware!! The converse is also true – you are admonished not to nag or be overbearing to your children.

We are called to mutual love in our families between husband, wife, and children in a manner that reflects the Holy Family, and in fact in the same manner as extraordinary love between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Our Gospel today presents an ordinary event in the life of an ordinary Jewish family – the presentation of the first born child in the temple. Yet, in the midst of this ordinary event, through the action of the Holy Spirit, Simeon and the prophetess Anna recognize that something extraordinary was going to happen through this Holy Family .

In preparing for this homily, I did some research on art that depicted the Holy Family. There are many beautiful works, by great artists such as Raphael and Michaelangelo. In all of these works, the Holy family is depicted as nearly perfect - perfectly clean, well dressed, and well groomed. This depiction of perfection in art had its purpose, but also sets an unrealistic view for us as we strive to model our families on the Holy Family.

The Holy family did not live a perfect life. They had problems that they had to deal with, just as each of us do in our lives. Let us see what scripture tells us that shows how the Holy Family was like our families

The Blessed Virgin Mary in her ninth month of pregnancy, she had to ride a long distance on the back of a donkey, over rocky roads to take part in a census. Ladies, can you imagine doing that?

And because of all the travelers at time of the Census, there was no room at the inns. And there was no kind innkeeper like the little 3rd grader to invite them in for a cup of coffee. So Mary had to give birth in a stable? Close you eyes if you have been on a farm or to the zoo? Take a deep breath an think about what it smells like? Can you imagine giving birth in a place like that.

We know that the Holy Family was poor. The offering that was made at the presentation of our Lord was that of a poor family. What family among does not have or has not had financial issues to deal with?

They had to flee their homeland because of Herod's plan to kill of the young male children. The went to a Egypt for an extended period , a country with a different culture, a different language where Joseph had to find work, the family had to find a place to live. When they returned, the Holy Family had to build a new life for themselves. Many of us, with the Hurricanes of the last few years, had to flee our homes, lost our businesses and our jobs, and had to return to re-establish homes and livelihoods.

And finally, after living a life of difficulties and sacrifices, which included losing her husband somewhere along the way, Mary faces what is the ultimate pain for most parents, the loss of her child.

So, as you can see, our God is empathetic to our every day struggle to be a Holy Family because He has lived those very same struggles. How are we to become imitators of the Holy Family and thereby transform our culture one family at a time।?

I have a two suggestions for all of us – On this feast of the Holy Family, what better time, to take stock in those things that are distractions, that prevents the love in our families from growing. It will be different for everyone. For some, it could be TVs in every room, for others, too many activities crammed into too little time. For some parents, it could be excessive devotion to job, and for children, maybe it is obsession with video games and other toys. Whatever it is for each of us, I challenge each of us to eliminate just one thing that interferes with the growing of the mutual love to which all families are called.

An what about the elderly? Too often the aging are society are discarded and ignored. They are left to feel unwanted, unloved, and unnecessary. If you have a family member , friend, or acquaintance who is aging and alone, take them the love of the Holy family by, calling them on the phone, visiting them, making them feel special, needed, and loved.

Starting from just a handful of disciples, the Church - without the benefit of fine buildings, television evangelists, great theologians – grew to a community that transformed the world. In spite of the fact that belonging to the Church was a crime, and being convicted cost many believers their lives, the Church continued to grow. Why was that? It was simple because of the way early Christians lived - with extraordinary love and compassion. Outsiders saw the joy in their lives and wanted to be a part of it.

By making our family a modern day Holy Family, by living each of our lives with with the love that the little 3rd grader in the Nativity play had, we can once again transform society and change the world.

4th Sunday in Advent Homily - God Calls Us All To Do Great Things

2008-12-24T07:13:00.010-06:00

There have been many times in history when great things have been done by ordinary people who lived humble lives. In fact great things have been done by people with less than auspicious beginnings, the disabled, the poor, those who grew up illiterate.

A personal encounter for me with a person who had very humble beginnings and achieved greatness was on November 8, 1970. I was sitting in the north end zone of old Tulane stadium. The Saints were losing 19-17 with 3 seconds left on the clock. On to the field trots Tom Dempsey, who proceeded to kick a 63 yard field goal to lift the Saints to victory. This was an amazing feat for several reasons. No one ever expected the field goal record to be broken in an outdoor stadium, on natural grass, on a cool, damp, windy day. What made this even more amazing was that Tom Dempsey was considered handicapped. He was born with half of a right arm and half a right foot, that same foot that Tom used to kick that record setting field goal. Growing up , few would have expected Tom to become a professional athlete, much less one who would set a record that would last for nearly 40 years.

Now, you may not be a football fan, or maybe you are just too young to remember this event. I am sure, however, that everyone nows someone or is familiar with someone in history who has accomplished great things in sprite of their circumstances.

Abraham Lincoln, our 16th president, is considered one of the greatest leaders in the history of our country, some say the entire world. Yet, he was born in a one room log cabin, had only 18 months of formal education, and worked as a laborer for pennies a day. Helen Keller, totally deaf and blind, overcame great odds to become a famous author, a much in demand speaker, and a political activist.

No matter how ordinary we see ourselves, not matter our age, handicap or other circumstance, as a people of faith, we are all called to do great things for God.

In Today's first reading, King David is told by God through the prophet Nathan, that he will be the founder of a dynasty , a kingdom that will last forever. You might remember that this is the same David who even though he was the youngest and smallest of Jesse’s sons, a shepherd who lived with smelly animals, he was anointed King by the prophet Samuel. He over came his humble beginnings to become the first truly great leader of Israel.

The Gospel today describes the Annunciation. Let us set the scene. Although her age is not known exactly, Mary was certainly a teenager when she was betrothed to Joseph, probably a young teenager. What is betrothed? Engagement and marriage were not done in the same way with which we are familiar. The betrothal was a part of the wedding ceremony that took place approximately a year before the couple lived together as man and wife. So here we have Mary, a young woman, preparing to start an ordinary life as a wife and mother, being confronted by an Angel telling her that she was going to be the Mother of the Son of God. Mary could have said - “No way. I want to have a husband and 6 children who can take care of me in my old age.” However, in conforming her will to the will of God, she brought forth the Savior of the World. No greater act has been done in the history of mankind.

Praying over these readings while preparing this homily made my pause and consider the number of times I have made decisions without conforming my will to the will of God and made me wonder how different each of our lives might be if we were to conisder God’s will before making decisions.

So, as Christians, what are we to do? How are we to cooperate with the Lord to accomplish great things? Well, I would like to offer some suggestions for all of us.

Advent is a season for reconciliation. I suggest that this week, before Christmas, we prayerfully consider the relationship in our lives which is the most broken, that is need of the most healing. Maybe it is a relative or someone who use to be a friend. Maybe it is someone who has hurt your or maybe it is someone that you have hurt. Whatever the case, make a sincere effort to reconcile that one relationship between now and Christmas. It is not going to be easy, but with prayer and God’s help, all things are possible.

Something else that we can consider, a little further out in the future – say next week. We are approaching New Years, why not consider a resolution to do something great for the Lord by serving others. I have a copy of the Parish bulletin. Inside there a number of actively working ministries already established. Consider joining one of these ministries that could help bring the Lord Jesus to someone in need by works of love, works of charity.

And after looking over these ministries and finding that none of them are your calling, why not consider starting a new one? What are the unmet needs of our community? Organization such as the Knights of Columbus, Marriage Encounter, and Habitat for Humanity were each started by one or two people with a vision to do great things with the help of God. What vision might each one of us have to do great things for the Lord?

Wait, wait, wait

2008-11-21T21:42:00.011-06:00

In 1997 I went through the discernment process to become a Permanent Deacon in the Roman Catholic Church. I was not accepted. I was not rejected. I received a letter from the Archbishop that essentially said try again another time. I thought I was ready to proclaim the Gospel. God told me to wait, wait, wait.

Six years ago, I started the discernment again. I was accepted and started formation in January 2004 for ordination in December 2007. In the midst of this, Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent levee failures devastated the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Because of this, a year was added to our formation. We were not to be ordained until December 2008. Wait, wait, wait.

My friends and family know that 10 years ago I was diagnosed विथ aform of thyroid cancer, papillary carcinoma. At my 10 year check-up, a recurrence was found. I had surgery this October to remove the cancerous mass. With that surgery, I lost my right recurrent laryngeal nerve. This has left me with vocal cord paralysis on the right side. Thanks to some excellent direction from my beautiful daughter-in-law, Kassie Willis Augustin who is a speech therapist at the Therapy Center in Lafayette, LA, I have regained a remarkable amount of my voice. It is not very powerful and is a bit raspy, especially late in the day.

This past Thursday, I had a procedure by Dr. Andrew McWhorter of Our Lady of the Lake Voice Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In this procedure, he made 2 punctures in my neck and with the aid of a fiber optic camera he threaded up my nose and down my throat, added collagen to the paralyzed vocal fold. (I am trying to post a video of this procedure, but having some technical difficulties.) This procedure should help it make contact with the left vocal fold and restore most of the sound and power to my voice to help me proclaim the Gospel after ordination. Dr. McWhorter is very optimistic.

Unfortunately, there was a small complication in the procedure. Normally, after this procedure, patients are allowed to speak immediately. I have not spoken since Thursday and am not allowed to try until Sunday. I wonder what my voice will sound like. I am hoping it will sound like James Earl Jones, or even my classmate Mike Talbot!

As the people of God, we are all often called to wait. The Holy Scripture is replete with examples of those called, and called to wait. God called the Jews out of Egypt, then had the wait for a lonnnggggg time in the desert before showing them the promised land. Elizabeth, the elder kinswoman of the Blessed Virgin Mary, had to wait until she was very old before she became the mother of John. The disciples waited 40 days for the coming of the Holy Spirit.

God answers all of our prayers. Sometimes He says yes, sometimes He says no, and sometimes He says "Wait, I have something better for you." I can't wait!!

They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love?

2008-05-12T09:58:00.006-05:00

This past week, I prepared a homily for class, to be given on this week's readings. Now, it might seem odd to give a homily on Forgiveness for Pentecost, but that, as they say, is how the Holy Spirit moved me. In the Gospel this weeks, Jesus essentially puts the life giving action of God the Father in the creating story on par with the life giving action of the Holy Spirit in the forgiveness of sins.

"and then he breathed on them and said, 'Who's sins you forgive are forgiven. Those that you retain are retained.'"

What a powerful thought! Even though I left out 2 of my main points while preaching (homily given with no notes) thanks be to God, it came out OK. My homework assignments (aka post-homiletic suggestion) that I gave out were for this week were 1) go forgive someone and 2) go ask forgiveness from someone that you hurt in the past. Can you imagine the difference it would make in renewing the face of the earth if a preacher with 1000 or so people sitting in the pews was able to get his entire congregation to forgive someone and seek forgiveness from someone all in the same week?!

Sitting in Mass on Sunday, listening to the first reading where the Holy Spirit came down on the disciples as with tongues of fire, made me really think about the birth and subsequent growth of the Church. People became part of the Church because Christians represented something completely different in society, something that they had never seen. Christians are the ones who helped those in need, regardless of whether they were part of the Christian community or not. Christians took care of widows and orphans, gave dignified burials to those who had no one to care for them, and cared for the victims of the various plagues and scourges often at the expense of their own health and lives.

Each Church has their own method of evangelizing, spreading the good news. There are lay and ordained ministers, diocesan newspapers, parish bulletins, websites, newsletters, movies, quasi-factual novels, world-wide outreaches, and young men in black suits riding around on bicycles to name just a few. Yet, Church attendance and membership continues to drop in the USA.

In comparison, the disciples at the time of Jesus had 2 things - the word which they spoke on the street corner and more importantly the way that they lived their lives with complete love as Jesus lived his. Interesting. I suppose we can tell which was the more effective method of evangelizing. It is also the most difficult.

Another Hurricane Katrina Victim

2008-02-10T20:52:00.006-06:00

A little over 2 years and 5 months after devastating New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina has claimed another victim. The storm destroyed his eastern New Orleans neighborhood and with it the life he had known for over 50 years. His health gradually declined since Katrina dealt her blow to the city and my father-in-law, Jack A. Quarles, Sr., passed on to eternal life on February 1, 2008 at the age of 87 years.

As he was a lifelong southern Baptist, my lovely wife Pam and her siblings decided to send him off with a Baptist service, presided over by Rev. Reggie Smith of Northside Baptist Church in Slidell. Most of you who read this did not know my father in law, but you might get to know his character by reading this eulogy that I delivered at his funeral.

On behalf of Jack Quarles - his children Jack Jr, Lynda, Pam and all of the members of the Quarles, Mullen, and Augustin families, I would like to thank you for coming to celebrate the life of Jack Quarles, Sr. .Thank you for giving up this beautiful day to show your respects to Mr. Jack and support the family..

Many may know things about him –

He was a career employee of the US Postal Service

A devoted and loving husband , father, father-in-law, grandfather, great grandfather

A pioneer homeowner in New Orleans east who lived in the same home for over 50 years

A man with a keen, dry sense of humor, who could take kidding as well as dish it out.

He was a simple man and unassuming man in every way. He lived simply, dressed simply, ate simply

Most of you know that he was a Navy veteran of World War II who proudly served on the escort carrier USS Kadashan Bay. What you may not know is that he volunteered so as to spare his father, Steve Quarles who was head of the local draft board, the ordeal of inscripting his son into the military.

Most would say that Mr. Jack was an ordinary man. I would like to share with you that which was extraordinary about him

He was an extraordinary in his kindness and gentleness.

Mr Jack was one of a vanishing breed - true gentleman. My generation, our children, and grandchildren can learn a lesson from this extraordinary man.

In his 1852 book “An Idea of a University”, the late Roman Catholic Cardinal John Henry Newman described a gentleman as:

“… mainly concerned with others, concurs with their movements rather than takes the initiative himself. …carefully avoids -- all clashing of opinion, or collision of feeling, … or suspicion, or gloom, or resentment; his great concern being to make every one at home. He never speaks of himself except when compelled, has no ears for slander or gossip…. He is patient, forbearing, and resigned, on philosophical principles; he submits to pain, because it is inevitable, to bereavement, because it is irreparable, and to death, because it is his destiny.”

This was Jack Quarles.

When he could, he would stand at the dinner table until all of the ladies present were seated. No matter how hungry, he would never begin eating until all were served.

When anyone entered a room, he would stand to greet them

Anytime anyone did anything for him he would say – “thank you”

Even in the last months of his life when he would fall down and someone would help him off the floor, his first words were – “thank you

And in his last few weeks which were spent at the Chateau Notre Dame, his first and last words when someone would visit him were “Thank You, Thank You”

He was extraordinary in perseverance. Most of us who worry about our small problems and setbacks in life could learn from Mr. Jack’s example.

When he became unexpectedly widowed in 1988 , many, including myself, thought that he would not be far behind. He had numerous health problems. My late mother-in-law tended to almost all of his needs. How would he survive? Not only did he survive, but he thrived. He was present for the birth of another grandchild and 2 great grand children. Jack dined out, traveled around the country, became a bowler, a swimmer, was active in the National Association of Retired Federal Employees, becoming president of the local chapter. He also became quite the ladies man, very popular at many social functions, even at the Pearl River Senior Center that he visited several times a week and while attending the baseball and basketball games of my youngest son Daniel.

As many of you know, Hurricane Katrina destroyed the home in New Orleans East in which he had lived. The things that we rescued from his flooded home fit in a few cardboard boxes and 2 plastic tubs. The storm took away almost everything he had and the life he had known– his friends, home, his neighborhood, his furniture clothes, his Church.

Yet he never complained or was even angry. In a note that he wrote to himself in October of 2005, he wrote – “I saw my house for the first time today. What a mess!” No complaints, no anger.

Although Mr Jack and I were of different denominations, we shared one faith in Jesus Christ. In the reading from the Gospel of St John which we just heard, when Christ encounters the grieving Martha, she tells him "if you had been here, my brother would not have died." So what does he respond? That death is natural, and that Lazarus is in a "better place?" No – Jesus weeps! And we like Jesus, who wept at the death of his friend, we weep and mourn at the passing of Jack Quarles.

Yet, as Martha did in the Gospel reading, we have certain hope in his resurrection. The Resurrection of Christ is the very heart of the Christian faith and Christian Good News. As is heard in many Christian Easter services

“Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice! Christ is risen, and life reigns! Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave!”

This eulogy was concluded with a reading of a prayer that he carried around in his wallet for years.

Driver's Prayer

Lord, lead me today in safety through the paths of this busy world. Help me to keep my eyes and mind on the road while my heart rests in Thee. Let me see in each of those who walk or ride an image of Thee, dear Lord. Keep me in Your gracious care so that all my journeying may lead at last to Thee. Amen.

Geaux Tigers... A Great Time... Thank You Lord - Do you really wear purple and gold?

2008-01-07T23:45:00.001-06:00

For those who know me, I am a long suffering LSU fan. Since I was a small lad, I have bled purple and gold. My dad was a Tulane alumnus, and when we went to the LSU - Tulane game (which used to be a great rivalry) I would wear purple and gold sitting amongst a sea of Tulane olive green and blue. I suffered through the David Archer, Curly Hallman, Jerry DiNardo years and have been in a state of minor ecstasy in the Nick ("I am now kicking myself in nowhere Alabama") Saban era and now the Les Miles dynasty. Tonight, my good friend and fellow deacon candidate Ricky Suprean, his lovely wife Lynn, his son Cai and his mother Elaine came over for an in-house tailgate party prepping for the LSU-Ohio state showdown. We were also joined by Pam's dad and sister Lynda. We had a great time, made even greater by good friends, food, and drink along with the total domination of the LSU Tigers over the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Louisiana has been down for so long. With political scandals, poor educational record, and the destruction of the 2005 hurricane season, it seemed like there would never be a ray of sunshine for the bedraggled Bayou State. A national championship is just what the doctor ordered to lift the collective psyche of the Louisiana populace.

I called my brother during the pre-game drive home to see if he had made the requisite preparations to enjoy the game. He revealed to me that he might have to miss the end of the game as he had an 11:30 adoration hour. I gave him LSU Tiger dispensation and told him to bring a portable TV to the adoration chapel if needed!!!! After all, I have it on good authority that Jesus is wearing purple and gold robes with "G-e-a-u-x - T-i-g-e-r-s" embroidered on the sleeves.

The Value of Life

2008-01-05T11:07:00.001-06:00

I am currently reading Selected Works of Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, Volume II, Church and Society (ISBN-13: 978-0814625842) edited by Alphonse P. Spilly, C.PP.S for a class in Spiritual Formation taught by Deacon Dr. Harold Vincent, former dean of the college of Arts and Sciences at Xavier University. Cardinal Bernardin was known for the balance and nuance with which he approached the issues of peace-making, the need for a consistent ethic of life, religion and society, health care, Catholic-Jewish dialogue, and, near the very end of his life, the promotion of the Catholic Common Ground Initiative.

Bernardin is obviously very educated and intelligent. His writing is very dense (as in thick, hard to wade through) but insightful and though provoking. The common theme in the writings of this volume is that an integrated person must have a consistent view or ethic on pro-life topics which include, but are certainly not limited to:

Abortion
Death Penalty
Physician Assisted Suicide
Euthanasia
Care for the dying and elderly
Hunger
Political and social oppression
Racism
Pornography
War
And many more

While I am still forming my thoughts in the area of Consistent Ethic of Life, I would like to know where you are on the issue. I would appreciate any comments and a response to my poll. The poll allows you to select more than one answer. Thanks for the generous gift of your time.