Tag: authority

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ATC 2 Obey

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Martin Luther said, “Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason…my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen,” (Reply to the Diet of Worms, 18 April 1521).

Your listening to All Things Catholic. I’m your host, Deacon Rudy Villarreal and together we are going to explore what it means to be Catholic.

Building on last week, I think it would be good for us to speak a little about obedience. What does it mean to “obey”? Now this is probably one of the most misunderstood concepts of our faith. Perhaps it is my cultural heritage as an American, but I have to admit I have struggled with obedience from time to time (queue “Born to Be Wild”).

Well, we’re not going to start with Church documents or an org chart or anything like that. Like last week, we begin our discussion about obedience with Scripture. There’s a really good summary of this point in Hebrews 11:1-40. There is so much here, but I want to read a few versus for you.

By faith Abel offered God a greater sacrifice than Cain, through which he was attested as righteous…(11:4).

It was by faith that Noah, after he had been warned of the things that had not yet been see, took heed, and built an ark for the welfare of his household…(11:7).

It was by faith that when Abraham was summoned he obeyed and went out …(11:8).

It was by faith that Abraham offered up Isaac when he was tested…(11:17).

It was by faith that he [Moses] abandoned Egypt…(11:27).

It was by faith that they crossed the Red Sea…(11:29).

What do we learn from Hebrews? The author goes on to tell us: We should fix our eyes on Jesus, our pacemaker and trainer in faith. In stead of the short-term joy that was within his grasp, he endured the Cross, disdaining the shame, and took his seat on the right hand of the throne of God (12:2).

Clearly the author of Hebrews wants us to imitate all these faith examples from the Old Testament right through to Jesus Christ.

Now this is very important because it is at the heart of the disunity in the Christian faith. From Luther on, the Protestant sees the Catholic Church as promoting a system of works – that we earn our way to salvation. The Protestant says grace is freely given. Nothing is required of the Christian except faith.

Ok, are you sitting down? You’re not driving, are you? Get ready for this!

The pattern in Scripture from Abel to Noah to Abraham to Moses to Naaman the Syrian who dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, to the blind mind whom Jesus told to wash in the Pool of Siloam to receive his sight, to Jesus Christ who begged that the cup should pass him, the pattern is faith – obedience – blessing. Faith-obedience-blessing on page after page of the Bible. Don’t take my word for it! Read it for yourself!

God says, “trust me.” The person does what God asked. Then God blesses.

Can we really say that all of these examples in Scripture including Jesus are wrong? And can we say that in any of these examples, the person had a hand in saving themselves? Did Noah save himself and the world? Did the Hebrews part the Red Sea on their own? Did the blind man heal himself?

Alright, Deacon, I get it, but why do I have to obey the Church or the bishop or my pastor? Now that is a good question.

Maybe we can look back to the beginning of this episode to find a clue. You see, Luther and Calvin initially embraced the idea that you don’t need the Church at all. But in short order, the Christian faith began fracturing into many different groups – some, like those who denied Christ, no longer seemed like Christians at all. What was their solution?

Calvin essentially taught he and he alone determined what the authentic teaching of the Bible was. Luther would go on to write, “I do not admit that my doctrine can be judged by anyone, even the angels. He who does not receive my doctrine cannot be saved.”

So, in the end, the fathers of Protestantism began to put a fence around the playground as it were. You are free to interpret Scripture on your own as long as you stay inside the fence. Curiously that’s the Protestant critique of Catholics! Now last week we walked through the authority of the Church rooted in Scripture and in the actions of the apostles and the early disciples. If the Church has authority, then we are called to obey the Church. To not listen to the Church leads to chaos and disunity and confusion.

But are all Church teachings the same? That is a HUGE question entirely, but here’s the Reader’s Digest version.

  1. Our faith in Jesus Christ is always greater than all the individual propositions and teachings we can come up with – period.
  2. We, like the martyrs before us, stake our lives on the fundamentals of our faith – on our belief in God’s saving love for us fulfilled in the incarnation of Jesus Christ.
  3. We acknowledge that throughout history, we may be called to define formal positions on what it means to live a life of discipleship rooted in the Gospel and guided by the Holy Spirit, but we cannot be absolutely certain that we are always right.
  4. However, to do or say nothing is an abdication of our responsibility as disciples, hence the need to define Church teachings.
  5. Still, to suggest that all of these positions – all of these teachings bear equal weight is presumption. The Second Vatican Council reminds us that the Church does not have an answer for every question posed today, (GS, 33). <1>

Ok so bottom line, like we learned last week, the Church has authority rooted in Christ Jesus who established the Church first through Peter and through the apostles. And that Church developed a structure that we saw carried out in the Acts of the Apostles, not only by the apostles, but also through the disciples. So, we turn to the Church that Christ Jesus gave us and as long as the Church is not asking us to sin, we obey. That’s really the bottom line. We do that out of a spirit of love for God and out of a spirit of unity with Christ’s Church on earth.

Do you got it? Do you get it? Good! Now go make disciples! May Almighty God bless you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit! +Amen!

One quick announcement before we part, don’t forget to send me topics you’d like me to address on the show. You can send them to me via the comment form on the website, www.deaconrudysnotes.org, or by sending an email to rudy @ deaconrudysnotes.org.

You’re listening to All Things Catholic. Our theme music was composed by Silent Partner. You can find all sorts of helpful information on the website at www.deaconrudysnotes.org. I’m Deacon Rudy Villarreal. Until next time, peace!

Notes:
<1> Gaillardetz, Richard R. By What Authority? A Primer on Scripture, the Magisterium, and the Sense of the Faithful. Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2003.

References:

  1. The Bible: A Study Bible freshly traslated by Nicholas King.

Catechism Links: Easily search the Catechism at http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc.htm

  1. Obedience, 144.
  2. Conscience, 1790-1792 and 2039.
  3. Grace and Justification, 1987-2005, and 2072-2084.
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ATC 1 On What Authority

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On this Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of the Unborn, I’d like to welcome you to this inaugural edition of All Things Catholic. I’m your host, Deacon Rudy Villarreal and together we are going to explore what it means to be Catholic. At the bottom of the notes I will include the references I use to build these reflections including the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Now, without going into too much detail, let me quickly explain what the Catechism is. To put it simply, it’s a collection of the Church’s teaching about God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Look, there are over 1 billion Catholics around the world. Having a document that summarizes our understanding of God and His saving action throughout history is simply a way of assuring consistency in the way we preach and teach. I don’t think that’s unreasonable, so, my reflections will include references to the Catechism and link that you can click and read it for yourself online. If you look at the footnotes in the Catechism, you will find references to Scripture and to the writings of the Church Fathers like Augustine, among others, and to works by other Christians or Church councils throughout time.

To kick things off in our first program, I think we should discuss why I believe I have any authority to share these reflections or why the Church for that matter has any authority at all. I think once we establish this foundation, it will be easier to have conversations in the future about other topics.

So, where do we begin? Well, we’re not going to begin with any org charts, organigrams or hierarchy matrixes – no, nothing like that. The Church’s teaching on authority begins with God’s great love for humanity. That love story begins with one of the most familiar stories in the western world: the story of Adam and Eve found in the third chapter of Genesis.

The first really important point that we learn in Genesis which is the foundation of so much of Christian thought is that God made us in God’s own image and likeness and when God looked at us He saw that we were good, (Genesis 1:26-27, 31).

Now enters the serpent who claims that if the first humans eat the fruit of the forbidden tree they will become like God. Is the first temptation disobedience? No! That idea trivializes the story.

The first real temptation is not to believe what we learned in the first chapter of Genesis. We heard that God created us in His image and likeness and that His creation is good. Two chapters later, the serpent is telling us, “You’re not like God! You’re a mess! You’re filthy! You’re not good enough! Don’t believe that God made you like Him.”

So, the first temptation is not to believe in the goodness of being human. The first temptation is despair. This is really one of the most profound and wisest insights in the Hebrew and Christian traditions: the recognition that evil enters the world through despair, which is the refusal to accept the goodness, the rightness, the blessedness of being. Evil is the denial of the goodness of being a finite human. It’s the refusal to believe that we are like God, (Himes).

What’s the result of the sin of Adam and Eve? Separation from God. In chapter 4, we find the story of Cain and Abel and what’s the result of that sin? You can’t even trust your own brother, (Genesis 4:1-16). Human beings now become separated from one another. Fast forward to chapter 11 and we find the story of the tower of Babel. What is the result of the sin of Babel? Human beings find themselves in isolated communities that talk past each other symbolized by their inability to speak to one another anymore, (Genesis 11:1-9). In a word, it’s chaos.

As the theologian Michael Himes observes, “As sin grows in the world we constantly become more alone, more alienated, more separated from God and from one another in ever more separated communities,” (Himes).

But, here’s the good news. God did not abandon us. He worked through the Chosen people, to gather them together, but they wouldn’t listen. So, God sends prophet after prophet, sign after sign, but the people would not listen. You see, we believe the gathering of the Church began at the moment when sin destroyed our communion with God. “The gathering of the peoples, the gathering of the Church is God’s reaction to the chaos provoked by sin,” (CCC, 761).

So, God sends His only Son into the world. Indeed, the Church teaches that Jesus’ task is to accomplish the Father’s plan of salvation in the fullness of time – to usher in the Kingdom of heaven on earth. The Church is the Reign of Christ already present in mystery, (CCC, 763). We believe that Christ is the light of humanity and that there is no other light in the Church that the light of Christ (CCC, 748-749).

But the Church on earth is not perfect. The Church believes that here below, she is on pilgrimage amidst this world’s persecutions and God’s consolations, (CCC, 769). The Catechism quotes Sacrosanctum Concilium, which is a document that comes to us from the Second Vatican Council and is based on Hebrews 13:14: The Church is essentially both human and divine, visible but endowed with invisible realities, zealous in action and dedicated to contemplation, present in the world, but as a pilgrim, so constituted that in her the human is directed toward and subordinated to the divine, the visible to the invisible, action to contemplation, and this present world to that city yet to come, the object of our quest, (CCC, 771, SC 2; cf. Heb. 13:14).

So often in Scripture, the Church is described as the bride of Christ. How does Christ sustain and prepare His bride? First, Christ is the Lord in whom the entire Revelation of God is summed up. Christ commanded his apostles to preach the Gospel and to communicate the gifts of God to all people. The Gospel was to be the source of all saving truth and moral discipline. Would you be surprised if I told that this idea, based on Matthew 28:16-20, comes from the Catechism, 75?

God desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, and that is of Christ Jesus – period, (CCC, 74).

Now, how did all this work? How were the apostles and the fist disciples (let’s not forget there were many disciples like the 72 that Jesus sent out; see Luke 10:1-23). How did they share the Good News?

What I mean by that is that the New Testament didn’t exist yet. Scholars believe, and by “scholars” I mean Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, Evangelical, etc., scholars give us some idea of when the New Testament was written, but we don’t know for sure when the books of the New Testament were committed to paper. So, the dates we’re about to discuss are just an estimate.

Let’s assume that Jesus died in year 33. The earliest writings are the New Testament letters and that makes sense because they were letters from a specific person to a specific person. Scholars believe that the earliest letters or epistles were written no earlier than the 50s. Ok, let’s stop there for a minute. If you’re going to write a letter strongly advocating something – anything, that means that you already have a firm grasp of the material and that you are confident that you can correctly and authentically represent it. So, if the first letters weren’t written until the 50s (about 20-something years after Jesus died), and there were no written Gospels yet, how would you have such a firm grasp of the Truth?

Well, we believe that the apostles and disciples handed on the Good News by their preaching, teaching and their example. In other words, we believe that because the people of this time had a strong oral tradition, the apostles and first disciples handed on the Good News orally.

Okay, so the letters begin to be written around the early 50s and beyond, when were the Gospels written? The general consensus is that Mark was written around 64 or 66, in other words either just before or just after Peter’s death.

Matthew comes to us in the middle of the first century, but after Mark.

Luke and Acts probably come around the 60s because Acts doesn’t mention the death of Paul and we believe Paul died around 64 or 67.

John comes to us between 90-110. Jesus, we agreed earlier, died in 33. John comes to us almost 60+ years after Jesus’ death.

We believe, then, that the apostles and the first disciples kept the Lord’s command to preach the Good News and to baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, both orally and in writing, (CCC, 76). This – the oral Tradition and Sacred Scripture – are the foundation of our faith. Tradition doesn’t mean, “this is how we’ve always done it.” No! For us, Tradition and Scripture are connected to the apostles themselves. In fact, we describe Tradition as the living transmission accomplished in the Holy Spirit, (CCC, 78).

We find in Paul’s letters, for example, that problems develop when people interpret what they have received on their own or in ways that might benefit one group over another. So, Paul sends letters very often to correct erroneous thinking and to bring people back on the right path. This act demonstrates Paul’s authority.

We find a similar example in the Acts of the Apostles Chapter 8:27-31.

An Ethiopian man, a eunuch, a man of influence with Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians (he was in charge of her entire treasury), who had come with the intention of worshipping in Jerusalem, was now returning. He was seated in his chariot and reading the prophet Isaiah. The Spirit told Philip, ‘Approach and hang on to the chariot.’ Philip ran up, and heard him reciting Isaiah the prophet and said, ‘Do you know what you are reading?’ He said, ‘But how can I, unless someone guide me?’ He invited Philip to get up and sit with him.

These two examples lead us to the final piece of the Catechism’s teaching on the authority in the Catholic Church. The Church believes that that task of interpreting the Word of God is entrusted to the living, teaching office of the Church alone whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ. The task of interpretation was entrusted to Peter and his successors, (CCC, 85). Hang with me just for a minute.

The New Testament supports this idea. We call it apostolic succession. Peter announced that the “office” left empty by Judas need to be filled, (Acts 1:20-21). Paul, who is an apostle by the hand of Jesus Himself, submits to the will of the disciples at Jerusalem and goes to Tarsus for time – maybe as long as three years – before he is allowed to go on his first mission, (Acts 9:19-30). Acts also describes the role of Council of Jerusalem in resolving the circumcision controversy (Acts 15). Paul directs Titus to appoint “elders” in every town (Titus 1:5). So, the idea of apostolic succession and the idea of hierarchy come to us not from some modern org chart, but from Scripture itself!

Indeed, the Church believes she is the servant to the Word of God, not superior to it. And as the servant to the Word, the Church believes as Jesus taught, “The one who listens to you people, listens to me,” (Luke 10:16).

So, as we come to the end of our first program, we learn that the Church’s authority comes from Christ Jesus handed down from the apostles in the examples given to us by Scripture itself. The Church, thus, has the authority to preach and to teach the Good News, and the Church has the authority, following the examples of Peter and Paul that we read about in Acts, to appoint ministers to go out into the world. So my authority is twofold: first, as a deacon ordained by the Church to minister to the word, and at the table of the Lord and in charity; and second, from my baptismal, just like your baptismal call to be priest, prophet and king first and foremost to my family, but as a disciple of Christ Jesus, also to all those I encounter.

Do you got it? Do you get it? Good! Now go make disciples!

One quick announcement: if there are topics you’d like me to discuss in upcoming programs, please send them to me via the comment form on the website, www.deaconrudysnotes.org, or by sending an email to rudy @ deaconrudysnotes.org. If I don’t receive something, then I will rotate between exploring the Catechism and discussing current events in the light of the Church’s teaching.

I have not received anything for next week, so please send me your comments, suggestions and questions!

Pray with me, won’t you?

God our Creator, we give thanks to you, who alone have the power to impart the breath of life as you form each of us in our mother’s womb; grant, we pray, that we, whom you have made stewards of creation, may remain faithful to this sacred trust and constant in safeguarding the dignity of every human life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. (Taken from the Collect for January 22, USA). +Amen!

The Lord be with you!

May Almighty God bless you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit! +Amen!

You’re listening to All Things Catholic. Our theme music was composed by Silent Partner. You can find all sorts of helpful information on the website at www.deaconrudysnotes.org. I’m Deacon Rudy Villarreal. Until next time, peace!
References:

  1. Himes, Michael. The Mystery of Faith: An Introduction to Catholicism. Cincinnati, Ohio: St. Anthony Messenger Press, 2004.
  2. Sacrosanctum Concilium, https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19631204_sacrosanctum-concilium_en.html.
  3. The Bible: A Study Bible freshly translated by Nicholas King.

Catechism Links: Easily search the Catechism at http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc.htm

  1. 74
  2. 76
  3. 78
  4. 85
  5. 748-749
  6. 761
  7. 763
  8. 769
  9. 771

For further reading:

  1. Brown, Raymond E. An Introduction to the New Testament. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2010.
  2. Gadenz, Pablo T. The Gospel of Luke. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2018.
  3. Healy, Mary. The Gospel of Mark. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2008.
  4. Kurz, William S. SJ. Acts of the Apostles. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2013.
  5. Martin, Francis and William M. Wright IV. The Gospel of John. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2015.
  6. Mitch, Curtis, and Edward Sri. The Gospel Of Matthew. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2014.
  7. Powell, Mark Allan. Introducing the New Testament: A Historical, Literary, and Theological Survey. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2009
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Witnessing to the Authority of Jesus

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Image of Jesus driving out demons. A scared person is seen leaning over in struggle as a demon is forced out of him

Mass Readings

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
January 28, 2018
Reading 1 – Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Psalm – Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 7-9
Reading 2 – 1 Corinthians 7:32-35
Gospel – Mark 1:21-28

If you were to enter into your search browser today’s gospel, Mark 1:21-28 and the word “authority”, you would see a whole list of commentaries on Scripture from all kinds of different preachers. You’d see one written by a Baptist preacher. You would probably see several from evangelical preachers. You’d find Anglican and Catholic commentaries. If you were to survey those commentaries, they would agree on this point: that today’s Gospel tells us that all authority and power has been given to Jesus Christ. Well duh! Right?

I am a disciple of Jesus. We are all disciples of Jesus. That means we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We want to learn more about Jesus, and we want to go out into the world to share the Good News – to be what Pope Francis describes as missionary disciples. So I believe it! I believe Jesus has authority. I believe that Jesus is the fulfillment of our first reading in Deuteronomy about one who would come after Moses.

So why, if we all believe Jesus has authority, does Holy Mother Church give us these readings today? They aren’t trying to fill up pages between Christmas and Lent. No! Holy Mother Church is challenging us with today’s readings. How do we live a life in witness to the faith?

What are some of the reasons they do that? I’m overwhelmed by stories from my own children and in stories I’ve heard from other youth here are St. John Vianney over the last several years, about the number of aggressively atheist teachers they encounter. They’re aggressive because they don’t keep their opinions to themselves. NO. They try to work their idea that God does not exist into any lesson – it could be math, science, language arts, Spanish – it doesn’t matter. They are going to work that in.

That plus social media, the content we get through television and streaming services, and pornography bombard people in an effort to desensitize us and to confuse our understanding of right from wrong. They do that by making the individual the center of the universe. You can do anything you want as long as it doesn’t bother me, right? The culture trains us to harden our hearts, like we heard in the Psalm. What’s a parent to do? How do we keep our children engaged. I think there are many things we could try. Let’s talk about three.

First, we need to remind ourselves that we are not alone. Our faith teaches us that we are a community, so we should be able to share with each other and to lean on one another for help. “Have you gone through this before?” “How did you handle that?” “Let me bounce this idea off of you.” We need to be comfortable to share with one another. Don’t be nervous and think you’re the only one going through it. Don’t think someone is going to say, “I knew you were weird!” No one is going to say that and if they do, shame on them! If you’re new to the parish, that’s ok. Come to one of our social events like the upcoming Mardi Gras casino night or the Knights of Columbus Fish Fry. Those are great opportunities to start to build relationships within the parish so we can share with one another.

We can also look to the wisdom in our own families. So many families are blessed to have grandparents and even great grandparents with them still. We need to turn to our family and ask their opinions and at a minimum ask them to pray for us. I can’t tell you how many times when my grandmother was alive and I would call her and say, “Welita! Would you light a candle for me or would you light a candle for my family?” Remember, you are not alone.

Catholic schools also give us an opportunity to bridge the gap between confirmation and adulthood. I’m not saying that Catholic school children don’t get into mischief. As a kid, I got into quite a bit of mischief while attending Catholic schools. So that’s not what I’m saying. What’s the difference then One of the difference is that our Catholic schools do a really good job at exposing our youth to the radical love of God and they remind our children that no matter what they do, or whatever is going on in their lives or at home, they-are-loved. That’s a powerful, countercultural message. Maybe if some of the youth involved in the shootings this week had had that connection to the love and hope of Jesus, maybe some tragedies could have been avoided.

This week we celebrate Catholic schools week and it’s a great opportunity for families to reassess the role Catholic education plays in the lives of our families. Go out in the Narthex, get some information and maybe sign up for a campus tour. This is a good time to not only compare the academics, but also the non-academic benefits of a Catholic education.

The third thing we can do and this is perhaps more challenging is to reflect on our own discipleship. Do I live a life in witness to the authority of Jesus? Do my family and friends see me come to church, but behave completely different outside? For example, do I come here and say, “all are welcome”, but at lunch or dinner, do I disparage the poor, the immigrant or the refugee? If there’s one strength our youth have its sniffing out hypocrisy – especially in the parents – never among their friends – but especially in the parents. Right? So we need to challenge ourselves. How do I live my faith?

Do my family and friends hear me talk about the struggle of living my everyday life with my faith? Do I let them see me fall down and by the grace of God pick myself back up? Do my kids hear me say to my wife, “I’m sorry,” even when I’m not sure what I did wrong this time? Do my family and friends see me go to confession because in confession I don’t just glibly say, “I’m sorry.” I have list my sins. I say it! I have to own it! Then I ask for forgiveness. A friend of mine reminded me just this week about the healing power of the Act of Contrition. The next time you go, I encourage you to pray that prayer mindfully, especially that first line: O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you. Do my family and friends see me avail myself of the great healing power in the sacrament of reconciliation? Do they see me come to mass where I am nourished by the Word of God and then I come to receive the body, the blood, the soul and the divinity of Jesus in the Eucharist so that after mass I go out into the world that denies the authority of Jesus?

Maybe if I live my life of discipleship better, people might have an encounter with Jesus Christ. That’s the challenge of today’s Gospel. If I live my life that way, maybe some family and friends will say, “What’s going on over there? You’ve got a lot on your plate, but you don’t seemed stressed or unhappy. Tell me what that’s about.” That’s your opportunity to share. You can say, look, authority out there is all about me. It’s about my power, my money. If I want more money, then I need get more authority and more power. That’s the rat race. But the rat race will never satisfy you. That only creates anxiety, the anxiety we heard about in First Corinthians. How do I treat that anxiety? Maybe after work one day I just go out with my buddies and get hammered. If that doesn’t work, maybe I’ll buy some pot. If that doesn’t work, maybe I’ll watch pornography to help me relax. But it’s a lie! None of those things can fill the hole inside! Only the radical love of Jesus Christ can fill that hole! We want to help people have an experience of God’s love so that they realize that God says to us, “I love you so much and want you to be with me forever that I allowed my son to sacrifice himself for you.” That’s how Jesus exercises his authority – not for himself, but for you and for me. That’s the challenge of our Gospel today. Do I live my life in witness to the authority of Jesus so that others might have an encounter; an encounter that leads to transformation; transformation that might bring our babies home.

That has to be the way that I start preaching to my family, not on my authority – not because I’m Deacon Rudy – but by the authority of Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior I live of a life of faith and love. Amen? Amen! That’s how we start facilitating an encounter with Jesus. Because the world offers them a different image. Do whatever you want now. But it’s an empty promise that leads to anxiety – That’s my opportunity. You see, the way authority is exercised in the world out there – all too often it’s about wealth and power. How do I get ahead in the world? But the authority of Jesus is based on radical love.

Homework! There are two things I ask of us to consider as we prepare for Lent. Perhaps we can try these exercises from now through the end of Lent. Maybe come here for the Stations of the Cross on Friday night, then go the Knights of Columbus fish fry, and add these two exercises to your prayer.

  1. First, ask yourself in your prayer, “How do I live my faith? Do my family and friends see me live out my faith or is my faith life the best kept secret in the house?” If it’s a secret, then part two of that is to ask for the grace to share your faith.
  2. Second, lift up in prayer by name any of your family and friends who have fallen away from the faith. Maybe say something like, “Loving Father, I lift up to you my son X, my goddaughter Y and my uncle Z. Wash them in the blood of Jesus. Protect them and bring them home.”

Maybe if we do these two exercises, they might help us hone our discipleship so that we can witness to the authority of Jesus in our everyday life.

Do you got it? Do you get it? Are you going to do it? Good! Through the intercession of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, may we all come to know and to serve Jesus. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

To listen to the homily recorded during mass, click here. If for some reason the link does not work or stops working, in your browser search for St. John Vianney Catholic Church in Round Rock, Texas, and click the link. Once there, in the search bar type “homilies” which should take you to a list of all the homily recordings archived on our website. Peace!